Prehistoric Park: A Keeper's Story
by MortalKombat247
Summary: Sequel to Prehistoric Park: Extinction World. A month after the park opens for the public a new keeper joins the staff and must find his way among the eccentric staff and avoid being eaten. Does not contain spoilers for Extinction World. Contains some language and mild threat.
1. Arrival

**This is a sequel to my fanfiction Prehistoric Park: Extinction World. I'll keep it spoiler free and Chiyo will be more like she is in the book that I'm writing, (fairly close to what I'm like in real life). Thanks for taking your time to read it.**

Arrival

The plane rocked through turbulence. Jordan Matthews woke from his sleep caused by the plane's turbulence. A man in a deep blue suit was still snoring next to him oblivious of the high altitude winds rocking the aircraft. It was boiling. He could see beads of sweat trickling down the snoring man's red forehead and slowly trickle down to his busy moustache. Each bead leaving a little dark trail as it rolled down his head. Bored Jordan looked at the circular window to his right to see mist lazily rolling over the Costa Rican Cerro de la Muerte mountain. Over ten hours of flying, excluding the six hour stay in Grenada, he was finally going to reach his dream job.

"Jordan dinosaurs are extinct," he remembered his father saying when he was but a child "You can't look after them in zoos. Crocodiles though they're like dinosaurs though."

The television embedded in the plane's roof was still flashing bright colours even after so many hours had passed. At least it had stopped playing Disney movies in five different languages. He cringed remembering how he was supposed to learn at least ten different languages by that moment; well he could learn when he was on the island and he still knew quite a lot of Spanish. Lazily Jordan reached into his shirt pocket for his complementary headphones and plugged it into the slot in his arm rest for headphones. He cringed when he realized that the channel was an American celebrity news programme. If he had wanted to know about Miley Cyrus he would have stayed in Leeds with his sister. Well it was either Miley Cyrus or the rhythmic snoring of the man next to him. He chose Miley Cyrus. The woman on the screen was chosen purely for her looks and definitely not her rapport with her having a very irritating sing-song voice that was trying to mimic a Californian accent.

"Manager of Prehistoric Park Nigel Marven has made loads of people on Twitter and Facebook peed off yesterday. Nigel said 'No Selfie Sticks' when someone in the aviary had their stick stolen by a Rhamp…Ramphor…Whatever that thing says…"

In big white letters below the presenter were letters saying Rhamphorhynchus. He sat back and reminisced. It was two months to the day when he met Nigel Marven…

_Two Months Ago_

He stood outside the grand Victorian building. The great arches which made up the entrance screamed that something great was inside. Below the glass windows were small terracotta carvings of birds, fish, reptiles and mammals indicating the architect wanted to put across the image that the building was meant to promote the natural sciences. Between the two towers was a smaller triangular shaped façade with the British flag flying from the top. It had been years since he had last visited the Natural History Museum of London and it sent a wave of memories of him running eagerly to the dinosaur fossils and the giant blue whale model in the Hall of Mammals.

Jordan was glad that his home of Leeds was connected to the capital by railroads. The congestion of multi-coloured vehicles behind him did not make him envious of those choosing to drive, especially with the tax the capital had on congestion. It was strange though that Nigel Marven had decided to do the job interview in the Museum. He was perfectly happy doing the interview over Skype until he found out his interest in palaeontology. Four years of studying Animal Biology at the University of Newcastle followed by five years of working with the birds of prey at London Zoo, (him quitting at the start of the year after a very bad break up with his fiancé), had not diminished his love for dinosaurs and other extinct animals. His fossil collection had grown since it started age seven and now at age twenty seven his centrepiece of the collection was a Dimetrodon skull with it only missing the lower jaw.

"Enough delay," he said to himself "You're gonna get this job and have a new life. Come on."

He walked up the steps and entered the museum. A friendly security guard smiled at him and he smiled back. Immediately he set his eyes on the Diplodocus Carnegii skeleton pride of place in the Entrance Hall. Although a replica it was still impressive. Children looked up in awe at the giant dinosaur skeleton, their bright little eyes staring in amazement at the gentle giant standing in front of them. A tap on his shoulder brought him round. The person who tapped him was middle aged with a friendly slightly red face, brown spiked hair and a sun tan from months of life in Costa Rica. Even in the cold of England he wore shorts with his characteristic working jacket and boots.

"So you must be Jordan," he said warmly shaking his hand.

"Pleased to meet you Mr Marven," he replied in shock. He did not expect his interview to start with his prospective boss waking him up from a trance inspired by a Diplodocus!

"Call me Nigel. We have a very informal work style on Isla Nublar and Los Cinco Muertes. I must say your C.V. was amazing and humble to match. Your former employer at London Zoo gave me a stunning report and I wanted to hire you there and then but…Well let's walk and talk."

Nigel ushered him to the left. On the Victorian stone was a sign reading Dinosaurs. It was public knowledge how much of a dino nut Nigel Marven and John Hammond were. Nigel stood looking up at a sauropod fossil.

"Now Jordan can you tell me what dinosaur that one is?" he asked gesturing at the sauropod.

It was an odd question for a job interview but he decided to play along. He noticed the hollow head that the sauropod had. "Camarasaurus."

Nigel beamed. He then pulled Jordan to another nearby fossil. On the wall was a giant brown stone slab with black skeletons imprinted on the stone; immortalised forever in their final acts. He noticed how they were a collection of therapods but looking carefully at the stomach area you could see the dinosaur's last meal, including young members of the species.

"Same question again," Nigel said excitedly like a small child.

"Coelophysis. From Triassic New Mexico."

Nigel beamed again. He decided to continue the game of guess the dinosaur and only decided to stop after Jordan had correctly identified an Allosaurus, Iguanodon, the jaw of a Megalosaurus, Gallimimus and the arms of a Deinocheirus. When he thought that Nigel had tired of guessing fossils it started again but with him correctly guessing a wide range of extinct animals across the entire museum ranging from Megatherium to Mosasaurus to Smilodon. It seemed to stop when Nigel leant next to a pure marble statue of Charles Darwin sitting in contemplation at the top of the stairs leading to a balcony looking down on the famous Diplodocus.

"I'm impressed," Nigel said with a smile "You've got the job."

He couldn't believe it! His interview had simply been to name correctly fossils. No questions on why he should have the job over someone else, why he wants to work there, what he is prepared to do for the job. Albeit his old boss had probably answered most of those questions already but surely Nigel couldn't have employed him just because he was another dinosaur nut to talk to? It's good to have rapport with your boss but how does identifying an Arsinotherium have to do with raising emu chicks? Or knowing the difference between Opthalmosaurus and Ichtyosaurus have to do with caring for jaguars?

"Jordan you have to listen carefully now. We have to get serious," Nigel suddenly said "We are opening up the park and we're doing a special announcement on the news at 5 o'clock on this day next month. You have to have all your stuff packed by then as the day after removal men will move your stuff to the island where the staff and I live. Will you have someone to live with if you sell your car and house?"

Jordan nodded. His twenty nine year old sister Amy would eagerly have him live with her.

"Good. A month after we open, so two months today, you'll be on a flight to your new home. InGen will pay for tickets and other costs. Don't worry though, I'll see if we can be neighbours."

_Now_

The voice of the pilot came through the intercom stating that they would be arriving at Daniel Oduber Quirós International Airport in ten minutes. The businessman next to him woke up suddenly and started muttering something in Portuguese. Within ten minutes the plane had landed as promised. When the smiling flight attendant finally let him off the plane he had to shield his eyes from the bright sunlight which stabbed him immediately as he set off. It was like being mugged by the sun. Nigel had promised that an InGen helicopter with air conditioning would await him but he had to get past baggage. He entered the airport and smiled with happiness as a wave of cool air wafted towards him, relieving him of the heat as quickly as the heat had swept over him when he stepped from the plane. Before he could get his bag though he had to show his boarding pass and passport to through the stern immigration guards. The one particular one he went to had wire rimmed glasses, a bald head and wrinkles making him look like a tortoise. He took one look at his passport and then his work visa. He then smiled.

"Parque Prehistórico," he smiled as he said this "My…granddaughter, sí that's the right word, went there for her birthday. Tell Senor Hammond thank you for putting Costa Ricans first in getting places there."

He smiled and waved him through. He vividly remembered when the truth about Prehistoric Park was announced.

_One Month Ago_

He rubbed his weary eyes. Gently he blew the hot steam pouring from his coffee like an erupting volcano to ensure his tongue wouldn't be singed off by the hot liquid. Although he loved his sister he couldn't stand her coffee making skills; he only drank it out of politeness. Amy was sat slumped in her polka-dot pyjamas with her head lazily bobbing up and down as she tried to remain conscious. Her normally neat and pristine brown hair was now pointing at every angle imaginable.

"When's your new boss revealing this place?" she yawned.

The news had been distributed everywhere over the last week. Eccentric millionaire and CEO if InGen John Hammond was going to reveal what was on his secret biological preserve live at four o'clock local time. Unfortunately for him to actually personally witness what he would be looking after in his new job he would have to endure the eight hour time difference and hours of Amy going 'What does Hammond have?' 'What does Hammond have?'. He had been wondering that himself. Rumours had been flying around about what was on the island. Some speculated that he had used InGen to genetically modify animals to create mythical creatures like unicorns and dragons. After Stephen Hawking had released his paper _On Oppenheimer and Paradoxes _where he theorised that Albert Einstein's and Robert Oppenheimer's blueprints could successfully create a time portal enabling people to bring back extinct creatures and ancient artefacts was possible, (albeit changing time itself was impossible), there had been theories that he had a preserve for dinosaurs.

"So what's Hammond got on those islands?" Amy yawned again.

"How many times I don't bloody know?" he snapped. It was the tenth time she had asked is as many minutes.

"Don't be so touchy bro. Did you see that big ass rock thing surrounding the place? Looks like you'll be looking after King Kong!"

He shook his head. Although she was right about the volcanic rock formation surrounding the six islands, (he meant to research why Isla Nublar wasn't counted as one of Los Cinco Muertes), made it look like some primeval scene. Whatever Hammond had on those islands were definitely well hidden.

"Look look! It's starting!" Amy practically cried with happiness.

On the television screen there was a fairly large crowd of journalists from the BBC to Al Jazeera. Each wanted to get a good image of what Hammond planned to reveal. The camera was focused on a crudely set up rigging with a red curtain stretching across the rusted metal. It was obviously a quick job just for the opening because he could faintly hear the noise of an elephants trumpet behind the curtain. It must have been the light reflecting off of the metal railing or shining into the camera at a weird angle but he thought he could see snow poking out from under the curtain where the fence started. Hammond then came into view. He looked very eccentric with his short stature, wire rimmed glasses, wispy white hairs on his head and big white bushy beard which made him look like Father Christmas. He even wore a long purple dressing gown to go alongside his walking stick with the iconic amber piece at the head. The ever cheerful Nigel Marven held his arm as he stepped up to a podium.

"Can everyone hear me?" he asked through the microphone in a feeble voice "Good, good. I've spared no expense on today. We even managed to get translations for those in the non-English speaking areas. I digress though. In the late 1940s I had a dream which my good friends Albert Einstein and Robert Oppenheimer made possible with their time portal. All of what you see here today without them and of course my dear friend Nigel here. There is something missing from our world. The amazing animals that time has left behind. But what if we could bring them back? What if extinction didn't have to be forever? We went back in time on a safari with a difference, when wild life adventurer Nigel Marven plunged into pre-history to rescue creatures on the brink of extinction. His plan was to bring them back to the safety of the present and give them a second chance. Welcome to the ultimate wildlife sanctuary. Welcome to Prehistoric Park!"

Jordan and Amy gasped in unison as the curtain was pulled back with a screech. Behind Hammond was a great field with huge pockets of ice scattered throughout. In this field though was a herd of elephants but they looked very different from the giants of the African grasslands or Indian forests. They were covered in a coat of brown-black, shaggy fur from trunk to toe. A male with massive curly white tusks lifted up his trunk and snorted in an almost trumpet salute to Hammond.

"I see our male Torn is greeting you," Hammond laughed "Here we have our resident Woolly Mammoth herd and if you look you can see some smaller woolly elephants. They are American Mastodon. Ooh I'm glad he's here he normally stays at the opposite end of this exhibit. The deer with the giant antlers is one of our male Megaloceros called Prancer."

Jordan stared avidly at the deer. His antlers must have been the length of a human each! He couldn't believe it. He was going to be working with mammoths! Holy shit he had a job looking after mammoths! If Hammond and Nigel had woolly mammoths and mastodon at, (he couldn't believe it), Prehistoric Park what else was there?

"Yes you there?" Hammond asked cheerfully to one reporter.

"Does Prehistoric Park house any dinosaurs?" the reporter asked excitedly. Obviously they had just learnt about the park's true nature.

"Christ! Jord you've got a job with dinosaurs!" Amy cried and with a second wind of energy ran up and hugged him.

"Indeed we do. Our first resident was an Ankylosaurus magniventris. Prehistoric Park houses many different dinosaur species ranging from Dryosaurus to Tyrannosaurus!"

"Wait did you just say that you have a T Rex?" someone asked in the audience.

"Yes. We have a T Rex," came the elated reply.

The siblings looked at each other. In less than a year Jordan had gone from a bitter relationship breakup that cost him his home in London and even his job to going to work on a tropical island that has the first Tyrannosaurus Rex to stalk the planet in 65 million years. On the screen he heard Nigel Marven say how they were working with different governments to release some recently extinct animals back into the wild. Faintly he heard Nigel start to say something about Mauritius and something beginning with d when his young niece Dani and Amy's irate fiancé Shaun walk in the room rubbing their eyes.

"What the bloody hell is going on?" he asked. Jordan had a feeling that Shaun's language would have been much more obscene if Dani hadn't been in the room.

Amy quickly scooped up her daughter and sat her directly in front of the TV. In an almost as fast pace motion she pulled Shaun forward and gestured at the screen. It was still zoomed in on Nigel so he couldn't see the woolly mammoths.

"Isn't that your new job Jord?" he asked "Bit extravagant for a couple a' pandas."

"Just watch!" Amy cried again in joy.

The camera zoomed in on Hammond: "We're going to show a short trailer. I must admit I took excerpts from my speech from this trailer. I'm an old man you have to forgive!"

The screen went black before a shot of a T Rex skeleton was shown.

"There is something missing from our world. The amazing animals that time has left behind."

The T Rex faded from view to be replaced by the snarling skeleton of a Smilodon.

"But what if we could bring them back. What if extinction doesn't have to be forever?"

The Smilodon was replaced by a black screen with golden latters reading: **What if Extinction Doesn't Have to be Forever?** There words soon faded and were replaced by some more reading: **Welcome to Prehistoric Park**. Slowly the screen erupted in a sea of light and a fanfare of trumpets. The narrator continued talking but he didn't take notice of the words; he was like a small child as he looked at a large plain full of horsetails with a giant grazing. It was only on screen for a few seconds but those few seconds were enough to leave him in childlike wonder. Those few seconds showed a nine meter long scaly creature which stood like a rhino but far larger. At the end of its tail were four spikes which stood up at all angles like foreboding stalactites while the back was covered by two rows of red, diamond shape plates. It was a real…

"Mummy! Daddy! Look a Stegosaurus!" Dani shouted in wonder jumping off the chair to look more closely.

What flashed next was a myriad of different exotic and formerly extinct animals. He briefly saw what he recognised as an Opthalmosaurus from the Natural History Museum. That must explain why Nigel chose his strange interviewing method. He was seeing if Jordan knew the animals already in the park. The letters appeared once more as the music died down: **The King Has Returned**. There was a shot of some ferns and a giant three toed foot which looked like an overgrown and far deadlier ostrich smash down. What followed was an ear-splitting roar, as if the earth itself was roaring. It faded to black as a new image replaced it. It was the black skeleton of a Tyrannosaurus with the words **Prehistoric Park **forming a logo. **Extinction doesn't have to be forever**.

"Jordan when can we get tickets?" Shaun asked in shock.

_Now_

His suitcase carrying what remained of his possessions weighed him down. In one arm he carried his passport while in the other he held the metallic handle of the suitcase and slung across his back was his laptop. If it wasn't on wheels he doubt he would have been able to carry it. As he exited the airport complex to go onto the runway he had to pause to put on his sunglasses to stop the light from mugging him again. It didn't take long for him to see his helicopter; a dark blue with InGen written on the door in big black letters. Nigel Marven saw him and waved.

"Jordan how was the flight?" he ran up to him and shook his hand "Here give me some of that!"

Before he could protest Nigel had grabbed the suitcase and was effortlessly lugging it towards the helicopter. It seemed that running away from the likes of Smilodon and Velociraptor must have made Nigel far stronger than he initially appeared. Painfully he looked at his hand to see a red imprint from the weight of the luggage. The pilot waved at Nigel indicating that it was safe to get in. Within minutes the rotors were spinning so fast that they were just a blur of black streaks. Curiously instead of the normal deafening roar of the rotor blades he heard only a little whir.

"It's an electric helicopter with a silencer or whatever it's called," Nigel laughed "Keeps it quiet so the animals don't get spooked and electricity makes the park ever so more eco-friendly. With geothermal energy and so much biogas we've can run the entire park without burning a single piece of coal."

The helicopter was swiftly darting over the dark blue waters of the Pacific Ocean. The sun reflected off of the surface in a way which made it look like the great ocean had a pulse every time the waves moved. It was bliss. Faintly he could see a large white cruise ship dwarfed by the blue expanse.

"What did you think of our little reveal?" Nigel asked "See anything that you want to work with first?"

"Is everything an acceptable answer?" Jordan replied smiling. This seemed to tickle Nigel who burst into laughter. It didn't seem forced at all.

"Good answer. Although one or two residents you might want to avoid. Cronus being one."

When Nigel noticed Jordan's puzzled expression he started to explain: "Cronus is a male sub-adult Tyrannosaurus at the park. We have seven: Cronus, a female sun-adult called Jane, three what you would call toddlers Sue, Atlas and Meier, and the parents Terrance and Matilda. Cronus has been a bit of a handful. He was actually the second creature me and Chiyo brought back. He almost ate us as well…"

"Who is Chiyo?"

"Sorry I keep forgetting you haven't started yet!" Nigel cried in embarrassment "Her full name is Megan Chiyo Ishado but we all call her Chiyo. She comes from Doncaster about half an hour from where you live. She's my second in command, aged twenty and will do anything to help anyone. Heart of gold. Loves history; you can ask her what happened in any year and she can tell you. A proper history buff. Loves comic books as well and video games. She has a few problems but...Heck so does everyone!"

It seemed that Nigel quickly wanted to change the subject. Regardless they talked for the remainder of the helicopter journey regaling stories. Nigel was fascinated to hear about Jordan's life and past experiences. He didn't know whether to laugh or not when Jordan told him the story of his first day at London Zoo and had earned himself two broken ribs from an unexpected kick from a cassowary. In the end he laughed when he noticed Jordan smiling. Jordan too found Nigel's interesting such as how he had been caught in a turf war between a Spinosaurus and Carcharodontosaurus in the Cretaceous period; a battle between two of the largest carnivores to walk the earth.

"…then he says 'but how can that be a bird?'" Jordan finished his story making Nigel slap his leg in laughter. He hadn't stepped foot on the islands and already he knew he would enjoy his job.

Then he saw it. A giant volcanic rock formation stretching far into the sky was now were turning a fiery orange. All the craggy rocks had been created from the Fuego de la Muerte volcano on the outside over a period of many years. Thanks to Hammond the islands in the centre of the giant rocky formation were a cradle of life. The helicopter edged through the gap in the middle of the formation which acted as a de facto entrance to the island chain. Isla Nublar instantly caught his eye with the thick fog drifting from the giant craggy mountain down the golden beaches. On that island was a huge range of creatures ranging from Triceratops to Hylonomus. He then saw where he would be living: Isla Pena. Half was a wide untamed land for the Neanderthal and other extinct hominid tribes to live in peace although he heard they regularly left to mingle with the Homo sapiens. His stomach jolted as the helicopter settled down. The door slid open allowing a wave of hot air to sweep in. Nigel stepped out and took a deep breath in. A Neanderthal waved at him which Nigel happily acknowledged.

"Come on Jordan I'll show you your new home!" Nigel waved picking up Jordan's luggage again.

It was hardly a five minute walk when they arrived at a bungalow. It had small quaint glass windows, sandy coloured brick walls and a roof covered a what seemed to be black sticks but he could faintly see proper tiling poking out of the sticks. Whoever designed it had tried to make the bungalows resemble a safari style lodge. Nigel shook hands and passed him a set of keys.

"Well welcome to your new home," Nigel said "We give you a week to settle in and I'll see you tomorrow to give you a tour of Isla Pena before you start officially."

When Nigel left he started up the path to his new home. His new life. Trees were placed either side of the path forming a foliage archway ushering him to the door. He placed the key in the lock and turned.


	2. First Days

First Days

Yellow beams of light seeped through his partially opened blinds onto his bedspread. It wasn't the new dawn though that woke him up but rather the loud knock coming from his front door. Where am I? He then realised that he was in his new bungalow on Isla Pena; in his new job. Groggily he sat up and rubbed the sleep from his eyes. Blue spots still wavered in his eyes as he checked the time on his phone. 07:30. Whoever was knocking must have been important at this time in the morning. It would be understandable if he had slept in on his first day but he had a week to settle in but he had literally arrived at Prehistoric Park the night before. He hadn't even finished unpacking!

"Sorry I won't be a sec!" he shouted hoping they would hear. Judging by how his voice cracked it was doubtful that they heard. Another knock confirmed this.

He pulled his blue dressing gown from the back of his bedroom door. It probably wouldn't be good to address someone of importance in just his white shirt and black shorts. He had just finished struggling to tie his robe when he got to the door and spent another minute or so trying to put the key into his door. The brightness of the Pacific sun blinded him and he had to quickly shield his eyes with his arm.

"Sorry did we wake you Jordan?" a familiar voice asked.

Eventually his eyes adjusted to see Nigel Marven standing at his door with his characteristic smile on his face. Standing behind him was a slightly shorter man who was slightly pudgy. He was balding and had a large bushy walrus moustache. The second man was wearing a blue, red and yellow Hawaiian shirt with grey shorts.

"No I was never one for a lie-in," he lied "Do you want to come in?"

He stood back to allow Nigel and the man to come inside. He offered out his hand to which the man took it heartily. The man though had to juggle shaking Jordan's hand with trying to carry a very large package wrapped in brown paper.

"I'm Bob Arthur," he introduced "So you must be Jordan Matthews? I'm the Head Keeper so we'll be seeing a lot of each other with you being one of the Deputy Keepers."

Due to his experience when he had been hired he was made the more higher ranking Deputy Keeper over the normal Keeper.

"Pleased to meet you. Please take a seat; sorry I haven't managed to finish unpacking yet. Does anyone want a tea or coffee?"

"Hammond was to come but well, the doctor gave a resounding no to that," Nigel interjected.

Nigel and Bob gave a polite response to their preferred drinks. Luckily the first thing he had done after he had started to unpack was go to the shop on Isla Pena to buy in some necessities including milk, tea and coffee. Hot steam poured from the kettle like an endless torrent and he immediately poured the boiling water into three mugs. It turned out that Amy was right about him taking multiple mugs! Nigel got up from the sofa and helped him carry the ceramic mugs filled to the brim with scolding tea and coffee into the adjoining living room. The TV in his living room was still stood on an unpacked box along with other miscellaneous filled boxes scattered sporadically around. As Nigel sipped some of his mug's contents he noticed Jordan's small fossil collection.

"Quite an impressive collection," Nigel commented full of interest "Oh that's quite a complete Dimetrodon skull. That must be the centrepiece of your collection."

"Oh it is. My sister got it for me a few years ago."

"Wait until you see the ones we have in the park," Bob laughed "They get up quite close to the jeep when we feed them."

Bob laughed when he saw Jordan smile. It was amazing that the owner of the fossilised skull sitting on his window sill would be one of the animals that he would be looking after in a week. Thinking in a week he would be looking after a whole range of creatures that he thought were extinct, in some cases for millions of years, until a month ago. Until he actually moved out Dani had been jumping up and down on him asking when she could come live with her uncle and get a woolly mammoth as a pet. Bob reached into his shorts pocket and pulled out his mobile. Holding it at arm's length he started swiping the screen with the accompanying clicks that came with pressing the links to the phone's wide array of different functions.

"I'm getting like me dad holding this at arm's length," Bob chuckled "My kids take the mess all the time about it. Here take a look at this."

He passed Jordan his mobile which showed a big grey play triangle. He tapped it and for a few seconds it was an incoherent blur of colour. Eventually the recorder, (most likely Bob himself), settled the camera so a large reptile could be seen. It was the size of a komodo dragon but with a circular skull and a giant burning red sail. The creature was covered in diamond shaped green scales and black stripes. It was a Dimetrodon! Whoever was recording was sitting in a jeep with the back open with chunks of meat lying in a red pool. The Dimetrodon managed to rear up by resting its front legs on the jeep's side for support. Opening its jaws it grasped a chunk of bloodied meat and pulled it off the back of the jeep.

"Does that happen?" he asked curiously passing Bob back his phone.

"With the Dimetrodon no. With them we normally feed them in the morning so they're a bit sluggish. Other species though are a bit crafty."

Nigel and Bob started talking to Jordan about his plans over the next week before he officially started. It turns out there were multiple cafes, bars and other establishments exclusively for staff on Isla Pena if he wanted to go. Although Nigel quickly warned him to avoid _Ammonite Bar_; a Tikki themed bar which was notorious for watering down its beer. He was curious though to meet Nigel's deputy Chiyo though.

"Normally if she's free she will be reading in _Triassic Shack_," Nigel choked. It turned out his tea was still a bit too hot. "You will like her although I worry."

"Chiyo's a sweet person. She's shy and doesn't talk much," Bob explained "We all love her but she's quite retiring so we worry. Wait I need to give you this!"

Bob handed him the package that he had brought. It weighed the same as the collective works of Tolstoy and almost dropped it. When he rested it on his sofa's arm the air rushed from the fabric with an audible whoosh. Only a Concorde went faster than the air that fled the compressed arm. Nigel and Bob eagerly sat on the edge of their seats like an expectant parents watching their child open a present on Christmas. He pealed back the paper to see a large booklet with the Prehistoric Park logo of the skeletal Tyrannosaurus over the park's name on the cover. In big white letters was the sentence: **Prehistoric Park Keeper Animal Guide**.

"That booklet will be your life working here!" Nigel said "Contains information about the behaviour and life of each of the park's residents, what they eat, when breeding time is and quite importantly how dangerous each animal is."

"I will definitely have to memorise this." It was quite a tome.

"Well we best be getting off," Bob said looking at his watch "Thanks for the coffee Jordan and I can't wait for you to start full time!"

He watched Nigel and Bob walk down the path into the new day. They had been talking for so long that the sun was now very high in the sky. Although before he made a start on the rest of the day he best be memorising the solid mass that was now putting considerable strain upon his chair's arm.

_A week later_

There was a loud metallic screech. Jumping with a wind of excitement and energy he jumped from his bed so he could turn off his alarm. It was time! It was the day that he officially became a Prehistoric Park keeper! He rushed around quickly getting dressed in the dark, only pausing to swear loudly as he stubbed his toe on the tome that was the Keeper's Guide. After shovelling down a quick breakfast and brushing his teeth he admired himself in the mirror. He had never done this before, (he was never one for posing), but today was no ordinary day. He curly brown hair had been cut short, his slight beard shaved so he only had some brown stubble, (for the first time in months he could see the mole on his top lip), and he stood as proud as a patriotic soldier in his uniform. A green collared shirt with the Prehistoric Park logo on the left breast, black combat trousers and black hiking boots. He contemplated taking the black jacket that came with it but decided not to. He had been waiting for this ever since he had first opened the Keeper's Guide.

Due to the heaviness of the guide he had studied it in his bungalow instead of trying to drag it to the _Triassic Shack_. Although he was disappointed that he hadn't managed to meet Chiyo yet although he heard that she was quite reclusive. Regardless he decided to spend his time reading up on the animals in the park instead of looking for a shy person because his boss had heavily hinted that he wanted to be her friend. The booklet gave more information on the park as well as the inhabitants even though he had to read the index to understand it. He was reading up on the entry for a species of oviraptor called Anzu Wyliei to see underneath it said _Location: Hell's Creek S_. It turns out the park was organised into different areas depending where each animal came from, (for example from Late Cretaceous North America), but because of the park being scattered over separate islands to keep it together they created the system. _Hell's Creek S _meant the Anzu lived in the Hell's Creek area on Isla Sorna. He was surprised as well how high danger rating some animals got. The giant sauropod Paralititan got a 5/10 but he chuckled when the reason for this rating was _'possibility of being stepped on'_.

He stepped outside and locked his door. A silver moon was still high in the sky when he left the house. To look after any park you have to get up before the sun does. The monorail to Isla Nublar where the keeper meeting area was luckily was only a short walk away. A pure white bullet shaped monorail was already at the station; standing out against the dark background of the early morning. Few people were on the monorail; a few people who he knew to work in the hotel as well as one or two Neanderthals. Whether they were some of the ones employed by the park or were ones that just wanted a trip out he couldn't tell. Both preferred wearing their traditional tribal clothing to 21st century clothing. With a quiet hiss the door to the monorail closed the monorail set off. Compared to other monorails the ride had no bumps and was virtually quiet; if he hadn't been standing he could have easily lay down and slept. The monorail silently darted across the track elevated above the water separating the volcanic islands. Faintly he could see the tail fluke of a cetacean gently rise from the water's surface before descending back into the depths. Judging by where they were it would be a Brygmophyster that lived at the park. He could be feeding one today…

Isla Nublar definitely earned its name. In the early morning Jordan could hardly look through the thick fog that kissed the ground. Never mind a knife he would need a chainsaw to cut through the fog it was that thick. It was so thick that he almost missed where he was meant to be going! There was a black chain-linked fence with a door requiring a keycard to open it nestled in some ferns. Even the staff headquarters looked like it was a primeval time. He scanned the keycard and soon found the door to where the Deputy Keepers met. It was rather plain inside with a few tables, a battered television set and radio, some lockers nestled in a corner and a map of each island on one wall. At the back there was a door which quickly opened revealing Bob carrying a steaming cup of coffee.

"Ah Jordan!" he groggily waved "Just put your stuff in your locker. Everything you need is inside. Also if you want a cuppa the kitchen's through there."

Jordan thanked him and walked up to his locker. He quickly located the locker which said and unlocked it with his new key. Inside was a walkie-talkie, a headset, tranquiliser gun, a belt and some binoculars. He took out the items so he could put in his phone and wallet. A cup of coffee seemed nice at the moment. The tiredness had hit him like a rampaging rhino as soon as he stepped onto Isla Nublar. The kitchen was small with a sink, microwave and a battered kettle. After boiling the kettle it turned out the coffee in the staff quarters was not a patch on the coffee in the _Triassic Shack_.

"Sorry about the coffee," Bob chuckled "We ran out last week so had to resort to the coffee we grow on Isla Muerta. No one's a fan."

It did not take long for the other Deputy Keeper's to arrive. There were five other Deputy Keepers. One was an African-American woman with a broad southern accent called Mary Paulson. She had a kindly wrinkled face with thick, long hair tied in a bun. It turned out she was the woman saved by Nigel and Chiyo from slavery.

"Ready to see a dino or two?" she asked to which he nodded rapidly.

Another keeper was a Kenyan man around Jordan's age called Winston Knuamba. He had slight stubble and shaved head with a set of rectangular glasses. He had come from a well off family in Kisumu which allowed him to get a degree in Animal Behaviour at Kenyatta University in the capital. After graduating he had worked with game keepers in the Mount Kenya National Park where he had been spotted by Prehistoric Park's Game Warden Robert Muldoon. He had started to work at the park just before the park acquired the Deinosuchus. The first thing he did was apologise for drinking the last of the good coffee.

"Morning everyone!" the next person yelled as she entered.

She was a middle aged Chinese woman called Xiang Zhun, (it took him a few minutes to realise the Xiang was her surname and not her forename). She had pure black hair which swept against her pale face. Eagerly Zhun told him about herself, how she had just left university during the Tiananmen protests and had arrived at the park a month before it opened to the public. She eagerly listened to his story when the third staff member arrived. He was a Lakota Sioux with a long grey beard tied in a knot with his grey hair tied in a ponytail. He was quite secretive with him not wanting to tell Jordan about his past although he was willing to say that he worked for years at Yellowstone where Hammond had hired him; the first person after Bob. Conor Oakes was his name. Jordan could clearly she that he was also the oldest Deputy Keeper; his eyes seemed to be filled with years of experience.

"Pleased to meet you," he solemnly said "Hopefully we can work together soon."

The final Deputy Keeper then arrived. His name was Saeed Hosny and was a Kurdish Iranian. Saeed was in his mid-forties with a bald shiny head that resembled an egg. Jordan couldn't help but notice how bright his eyes were; like glistening fresh pennies. He also had a short beard although he imagined it was that short to stop a stray claw from being caught in it.

"You must be Jordan?" he asked tiredly "Sorry I need a coffee that is not the swill we grow."

When everyone was present and accounted for Bob drained his mug with a grimace and pulled out an electronic tablet. He put on some wire rimmed reading glasses and started swiping the tablet's screen.

"Okay everyone here's today rotas: Me and Winston are on feeding duty for some exhibits and because it's your first day Jordan you're with us, sorry Zhun and Conor you're on clean up…"

"It's literally a shit job," Winston whispered to him. Jordan smiled; cleaning up dinosaur faeces could literally be the shittiest part of the job.

"Mary you're on feeding duty for some other animals, (I'll give you which ones), and finally Saeed. Oh the easy job of transporting some of the animals from the vet."

Judging by Saeed's smile he was happy with this job. Raring to get going they set off for their respective jobs. The thick fog had started to thin by now so he no longer needed a chainsaw or machete to cut through it. They got on board the monorail which shot off to the larger Isla Sorna.

"So am I replacing anyone or just short staffed?" he asked. Normally people were more reserved with a staff member replacing an old one but he hadn't noticed that here.

"Nah with the park open it was better to have some more Deputy Keepers," Bob explained shaking his moustached head "We are supposed to be getting a new Deputy Keeper though. One of the Keepers but they haven't passed the tranquiliser test yet."

In a minute they stepped off the monorail and headed off to the first exhibit. Instead of going to a viewing area they went on a way saying **Staff Only**. Jordan wobbled though when he stepped on the path; it wasn't a path but part of a barge! He hadn't noticed the clear blue water lapping at the side thanks to the blue-green plants which were growing by the bank. The barge extended around the back of the exhibit which adjoined to the cool sea. The barge eventually took them to some water where the skeletal roots of giant mangrove trees stretched their bony appendages blocking the view of the exhibit. A small boat was already there where suppliers were throwing dead fish onto the barge.

"Alright Masopha?" Bob yelled at one of the suppliers who turned and gave a thumbs up. Masopha replied in a language that he hadn't yet learned before placing a bucket on the barge. When he climbed onto the boat it sailed off across the bright blue water.

"So what lives in here?" Jordan asked curiously. He had failed to notice which area they had entered so couldn't guess what was in the enclosure. Even the fish didn't give him any clue.

"Spinosaurus," Bob replied coolly. He couldn't believe it! Spinosaurus Aegypticus was one of the largest if not the largest carnivorous dinosaur to ever walk the earth. Well swim would be a better description with them living like a giant crocodile. It was a scary thought that the only thing separating him from the giant dinosaurs were a few mangroves.

"Don't worry," Winston laughed seeing Jordan's worried face "There is a fence between the mangroves and the spino, as well as another row of mangroves. You're safe."

Feeding the Spinosaurus wasn't a complex ordeal. There was a small hole at the bottom of the fence allowing fish to enter the exhibit although it was clever how they made the fish wriggle as if it was real. The bucket was filled with small chips which they put on the bottom of the fish which would release electrical waves when it hit the water. The waves would stimulate the remaining nerves in the fish making it move; incidentally the dead fish had to be a few days old and Bob explained that quite often the fish stopped moving before the spinos got them. Whoever designed it the pulse had a second inventive idea where the chip falls off as soon as it leaves the water. A slight current would then take the chips to another end of the exhibit where the suppliers would collect them. The dead fish hardly wriggled as virulently as he had expected but he expected that the spino wouldn't mind.

"Some will be forced left into Ramses and Cleopatra's enclosure and the rest will go into Ptolemy's enclosure," Bob explained "Disappointed you didn't see them?"

"Yeah. Well no at the same time. I expect that we would be sitting ducks if we could see them from here."

Both Winston and Bob nodded in agreement. The pictures in the handbook had shown a unique and interesting creature but for now he was satisfied with the static images. They left the barge in order to feed the next set of animals. They lived at the other end of Isla Sorna so it ensured another trip on the monorail was in order. Jordan was thankful that there was a monorail; he was physically fit but would have struggled to go around just one island never mind the rest! A blue light on the white roof above the door saying **Leaving Bahariya Formation** in god knows how many languages.

"Are we feeding all the animals?" he asked hesitantly. He dared to think of the day ahead of him if the answer was yes. Winston laughed and Bob shook his head.

"Goodness no!" he cried wiping his sweating brow "Deputy Keepers feed some of the animals when the keepers who normally look after them have the day off. Even then we don't have to feed all of them at once. Compared to a zoo Prehistoric Park has a more natural feel so some species don't need to be toped up with food every day."

There was a ping and the doors slid open. Above the blue light now read **Yixian Formation**. A young woman in khaki shorts and a tied shirt revealing her midriff stepped on. She swept her short, dyed white hair out of her eyes as she took a drink from the cool water bottle before returning it to her bag. She smiled at Bob and Winston.

"Been visiting Michael Quint?" Winston asked.

"Yeah," she said lazily. The morning heat seemed to have sprung up on her. "He's doing exactly what I should be doing now: sleeping! I thought I might go look at the velociraptors a bit earlier than normal. Oh sorry you must be the new guy. I'm Ashley Quintain but every calls me Quint. I'm one of the park's palaeontologists."

They shook hands but greetings had to stop there. A blue light beeped saying **Flaming Hills **came on the monorail's roof which indicated that Quint had to get off. Their stop was next in an area named **Holocene Heights**. Bob and Winston escorted Jordan to a small wooden hut nestled among a rocky outcrop and some conifer trees. Bob opened the door and ushered them in. There was a control panel overlooking a glass screen looking into a rocky forest. A waterfall trickled down in the middle of one white outcrop. It seemed to be made entirely of limestone. It looked strangely like a Mediterranean forest. Then he noticed that an assortment of food had been left behind a metal door. The animal must have been an omnivore with carrots, berries, a white tub of honey, lettuces and a huge chunk of meat occupying what seemed to be a cooler.

"We best be quick. Jordan if you could take the honey. There should be an empty tree trunk by the lake for you to put it in. I'll take the meat and Winston take some of the berries and stuff," Bob muttered half to himself.

He picked up the bucket and recoiled slightly when it turned out that the handle was sticky. Willing to take the dent in his pride he struggled with both hands to carry the bucket. Twice he had to put it down and rub the red lines which had crept along his hands. He shuffled to the edge of the lake where he saw a tree trunk which had been opened. Puffing he managed to lift the bucket but he had to rest it on the trunk. With another heave he managed to pour the sickly golden viscous honey into the trunk which filled up rapidly. Immediately the bucket weighed nothing. There was a growl behind him. Surely the animal couldn't still be in the exhibit? He slowly turned around to see the fence with a small door built in. Most of the fence extended over the water's edge except where the door was and a small patch of soil. A giant male brown bear was standing and leaning his dish sized paws against the fence. The bear growled again looking eagerly at the honey trunk. This must be the Atlas Bear exhibit then. He didn't know much about them except that they had gone extinct in the last two hundred years thanks to hunting.

"I see you've met Hannibal then," Winston said clapping him on the shoulder "He's got a bit of a sweet tooth. Man after my heart. Come on we need to let him and the rest out."

They returned to the little hut where Bob was waiting. Bob closed the door and locked it before pressing a big red button. Just as they were about to leave the hut he saw a bear run up to a tree and pull some berries some it, almost taking the entire branch with it. They proceeded to the area which consisted of a small hut with two aviaries attached to it. Both aviaries were full of conifers and willows with birds resting on them. He instantly recognised one of them as being the once common Passenger Pigeon.

"Welcome to Pigeon and Parakeet Forest," Bob said "We're just going to refill their seeds and some fruit."

Jordan got to feed the parakeets which required less skill. He had a bag full of apples, oranges, figs and grapes ready to feed the brightly coloured birds. It was a simple job which just ensured putting the fruit on the wooden stands periodically placed among the trees. When he was working in London Zoo he found that psittaciformes like parakeets and parrots reacted one or two ways when someone new enters their exhibit. They would either stay away from the keeper as if they were a hungry bloodthirsty jaguar or they would stay close to them like a chick would next to their parent. It seems that the Carolina Parakeets were somewhere in between; wary because he was new but he had food. When he was placing the last apple on a stand one fluttered down and cocked its head quizzically at him.

"Hello there. Do you want something to eat?" he asked the green little bird offering the apple. It seemed that he hadn't earned the parakeet's trust with it immediately flying off.

Shrugging he left to join Bob and Winston. Checking his watch he was surprised to see that it was now noon.

"Caw I'm starving," Bob grumbled patting his stomach "There's a nice little café next to Santa Cruz Plains on Isla Nublar that sells loads of different foods from South America. All that's left on the list is the Didelphodon and they're asleep now so there's no rush."

Agreeing to this proposition they quickly grabbed the nearest monorail. A day on his feet made Jordan eager for a sit down which Bob and Winston eagerly join him. Winston took a cloth out of his pocket and started wiping his glasses.

"I should really get contacts," he muttered "When we first got the Sinorthinosaurus one almost stole them never mind the cleaning."

"It must have been amazing when the park was getting its first animals," Jordan asked.

"Oh my goodness it was!" Bob cried "It was the greatest sight ever to see the time portal open for the first time and see a blurred shape amble through. Andy the Ankylosaurus. Not only Prehistoric Park's first dinosaur but the world's in 65 million years. We didn't even wait for our second! Cronus the Tyrannosaurus soon chased Nigel through about two minutes after."

"Too bad we weren't allowed to tell anyone," Winston sighed.

"We had to sign waivers, contracts etc. saying we wouldn't sort of announce it to the press about what was on the park. Only because if the press knew that Hammond guessed that they would try and constantly get in and hound the animals. Safer to keep it secret."

_One Hour Later_

He leant back in his chair letting the sun beat down on his face. His chimichurri perfectly filled him up and in the nice warm day he could have easily slept. _El Sabor de la Santa Cruz _was perfectly situated capturing the warmth of the sun next to one of the exhibits. Slightly elevated above the exhibit the small café they looked over a large savannah plain where orange llama like mammals with short trunks stood grazing. The strange Macrauchenia paid no attention to the people who looked at them or even the great rhino sized Toxodon which were wallowing in the lake. Suddenly the tranquillity was broken by a tiny voice on the headset:

"_Any free keepers please go to the Pterosaur Aviary"_

Bob placed his hand to his headset: _"Bob Arthur, Winston Knuamba and Jordan Matthews attending"_

"Come on lads we best be going!"

The edge of the Pterosaur Aviary was nearby and it blew Jordan away. A giant Plexiglas dome that stretched so high into the sky that the sun blinded him when he tried to look to the top. They pushed the double doors to the aviary and he was hit by a wave of warm air that made him briefly light headed. He had read that some of the larger pterosaurs could only fly in the Mesozoic era because of the increased amounts warm air currents which had vanished as Earth's climate changed. The aviary managed to replicate these air waves perfectly so the giant flying monsters could conquer the skies again. A tour guide immediately walked up to Bob and started to tell him what happened.

"A little boy has thrown his mama's wallet into the Pteranodon and one of them is deciding whether to eat it," the tour guide said this in a very broad Swedish accent.

Bob sighed and climbed up a metallic flight of stairs to what Jordan assumed would be the staff entrance to the Pteranodon exhibit. No matter how much you had planned a wildlife park somehow a member of the public would cause a commotion and most of those commotions would be from a kid. They descended another flight of stairs allowing them to go to a metal door which Bob unlocked with his keys. Inside there was a small set of metal maintenance stairs next to a lift. Grunting Bob climbed down the stairs with Winston following duly behind. When Jordan got down he was amazed at the Pteranodon exhibit. A chunk of it was perfectly flat land intersected with ferns and a few rocks. The rest however he couldn't see because of a sharp decline to the roaring sea below. The Plexiglas extended a fair distance into the background but most of the view was censored by a thick blanket of fog. Above sat the metal balcony that comprised the viewing area. Although he couldn't see it he knew that there was a Plexiglas screen which was erected to stop a Pteranodon from possibly pecking out a guests eyes.

"Okay lads be careful," Bob whispered "They may not have teeth but they can do some damage just with their beak never mind their wings."

Judging by this statement he assumed that Pteranodon often used their wings. What he had read in his booklet the Pteranodon's wing had enough force to break someone's arm. Then he saw the guilty pterosaur. It was giant, at least the size of the current largest flying bird the wandering albatross, with a metre long crest which was a deep blue. The pterosaur was covered in some thick downy fluff which was pitch black and covered the body and the tops of the wings. Whatever wasn't covered in the fluff was crimson in colour. An orange toothless beak was toying with a shiny brown leather wallet. He had studied with birds and found that birds were only attracted to shiny objects because they were new to their habitat and not actually shiny; often stealing non-shiny objects. Most likely the Pteranodon was toying with it because he hadn't seen it before.

"If he swallows that it's gonna wreak havoc for his digestion," Bob sighed "I just don't know how we can get that wallet off him."

The answer literally brushed against Jordan's fingers. His fingers had brushed against the torch… He doubted that the pterosaur would be used to the beam of a torch. Despite the pleas from Winston and Bob he crept close to the Pteranodon. He could smell the fish and salt that lingered in the fluff of the bird/reptile hybrid. A tiny amber eye suddenly noticed him and he cawed angrily at the intruder who wanted to steal his new possession. The wallet fell out of the toothless beak. The Pteranodon gave an even louder caw which went right through Jordan.

"Ah ya bugger!" he cried putting his hands over his ears.

The Pteranodon clicked its beak at the intruder who still refused to leave him with his toy. Jordan slowly grabbed his torch, making slow movements to avoid scaring the pterosaur. With a click he turned on the torch making the Pteranodon shriek. He couldn't tell whether it feared the bright light or the loud click more. He continuously clicked the torch on and off frustrating the Pteranodon. With a cloud of dust which stung Jordan's eyes like someone had poked him in them the pterosaur flew away. When he managed to get the dust from his eyes he grabbed the wallet.

"Well done!" Bob yelled clapping him on the shoulder when they ascended the stairwell "That would have made Nigel proud."

"The bugger swept dust into my eyes!" he replied with his eyes slightly red.

They arrived on the balcony that overlooked the Pteranodon. One giant pterosaur was soaring gracefully among literally feet from where they stood. He had to give it to the kid; the gap between the Plexiglas and the balcony railing was hardly an inch high. The mother ran up and started thanking him in French.

"Well let's go feed the Didelphodon and we can call it a day," Bob laughed at Jordan's embarrassment after the woman had kissed him on the cheek making her husband stare at him angrily.


	3. Chiyo and Hammond

Chiyo and Hammond

The sun was unrelenting. An amalgamation of the strenuous work and the dire heat of the Pacific sun made two very large sweat patches turn the majority of his shirt a dark green colour. He rested on his shovel and wiped his watery brow with his wrist. Zhun was still happily chatting away as she worked. Since his first day he had done two days with Zhun before this one and all three she hadn't stopped talking. However she was one of the bubbly talkers; the ones who constantly speak just because they were friendly.

"…then we went to the Coliseum. Oh it was beautiful! Some people were dressed as those Roman soldiers and…"

She had been regaling him about her last few holidays. When doing clean up in _Jurassic Heights_ you needed something to distract yourself. Like other herbivores the dung itself didn't smell but the sheer quantity of it! In the distance he saw one of the park's Apatosaurus drinking out of the lagoon. How much he envied the big feller. It did amuse him though how, despite its name, _Jurassic Heights _was completely flat; earning its name instead thanks to the sauropod residents. He distinctly remembered the Brachiosaurus entry in his keeper's handbook:

_The Brachiosaurus is one of the largest dinosaurs at 37 short tons, (34 metric tons). It is normally in the media depicted rearing onto its hind legs to browse the leaves on the taller trees. However this would have been impossible for Brachiosaurus due to its weight with it even struggling with average inclines._

He looked around to see if any Brachiosaurs were nearby. The size of the exhibit meant that the different sauropod species could be anywhere around _Jurassic Heights_ although the general rumble of the earth like a nuclear explosion would alert you to the sauropod arriving. Although another giant was before him. A scarab beetle the size of a dish was rolling a large sphere of dung away from the nearby pile; a sun reflecting off the jet black shiny carapace of the beetle. With so much dung and the generators making the enclosure both warmer and oxygen rich the local scarab beetles had become giants. There was a whistle sound that descended in pitch to form a chirp like a starling. It was a Dryosaurus. Although little compared to other residents in _Jurassic Heights _the Dryosaurus was shoulder height to Jordan. The Dryosaurus was leaf green with a darker green head but the body was covered in a strange downy fluff; not the same feathers that the therapods boasted. Only at such a close distance could the fluff be seen on the Dryosaurus.

"Hello there!" Zhun cried which caused the Dryosaurus to take a hop closer to her. Another popped its head up and pranced towards her "Bob let me feed them berries and they liked me ever since."

She pulled a plastic packet full of blueberries which made the Dryosaurus chirp in happiness. Zhun poured some blueberries into her palm which the Dryosaurus started to peck at the berries in happiness. The first one lifted her head and gave Zhun an affectionate nudge.

"Come on Jordan! It's not like they're a Dromaeosaurus!" she cried.

He definitely knew what she was meaning. He had an encounter with the Dromaeosaurus just two days ago.

_Two days ago_

The sun had barely started to rise when he and Conor arrived at the Dromaeosaur exhibit. A purplish glow started to peak its way through the blackened tree leaves. He barely could see the tattoo that partially crept out of Conor's sleeve, (although Conor had tried to obscure it whenever it did poke out). He still hadn't seen the tattoo properly.

"Have you seen the Dromaeosaurs yet?" Conor asked. He had quite a deep voice that somehow always sounded serious.

"No not yet." He hadn't seen any of the raptors, (discounting the modern day ones), yet. Not even the small Microraptor or Sinornithosaurus.

Conor gestured to a rocky outcrop with a large metal door built into it. He pushed the door open revealing a small lighted room with a metal table with chairs in the centre. Someone's half eaten sandwich was still wrapped in tin foil on the table. The person happened to be standing next to the wall on the left which he just then noticed was a sheet of glass. He was about Jordan's height with short ruffled brown hair, slight stubble, black trousers, a dark blue shirt and a brown vest that went over the shirt.

"Hi Conor. You must be Jordan. Pretty impressive what you did with that Pteranodon," he said with a smile and shook Jordan's hand "Owen Grady. I'm the Behaviourist although I spend most of my time with the raptors."

He could understand why. Raptors were intelligent, at least as intelligent as elephants, so mixed with a pack and sharp teeth it was a dangerous mix. Owen told them that none of the Dromaeosaurs were near the edge so it was safe to put the meat out. At the far end of the room was a fridge which when opened revealed a huge carcass of an unfortunate cow. It even still had hide on it. A railing with a hook rested on the rocky ceiling that went to a section next to the glass with a thin line running from the ceiling to the floor. Owen though held out his hand indicating them to stop when they had hooked the meat up.

"One of them is over there," Owen told them.

He looked through the glass through the thinning fog. He couldn't see the Dromaeosaurus though. Between each tree, between the logs and the rocks. It wasn't there.

"In the trees," Owen whispered to him.

He looked up one of the trees and saw a feathered creature clinging to a trunk. The feathers were dark brown with lighter brown horizontal stripes running across the back. It perfectly blended in against the trees; perfect for hunting. The dinosaur flicked its head where he could see a giant amber coloured eye. It was fascinating. The Dromaeosaurus looked strangely like a bird but with some more alien qualities. It was the perfect opportunity to take a photo for Amy and Dani. He looked down to unlock his phone and when he looked back up a pair of amber eyes were staring back at him.

"Whoah!" he yelled falling back onto the hard floor making Owen and Conor laugh.

"I see that you've found out that Dromaeosaurus is a brilliant jumper," Conor laughed in his deep voice.

The dromaeosaur stared at him curiously. Piercing him with the giant intelligent eyes the dromaeosaurus seemed to be watching him.

_Now_

Zhun gave him some blueberries and he held out his palm for the Dryosaurus. Tentatively one of them hopped towards him and went for the berries. Its tongue had an unusual feel against his hand; it seemed to be rough like a goats. Having fewer berries compared to Zhun the Dryosaurus soon bounded away from him.

"See you again!" Zhun cried when the other Drysaurus had polished off the berries. She went to the meter at the side of the truck that recorded how much weight was in the back. They had a specific amount of dung to pile onto the truck which would then be carted off to be turned into fertiliser or to be put into the biogas generators. With three species in _Jurassic Heights _alone producing tons of dung it meant that the park was never short on fertiliser or fuel; so much that they could sell much of it and leave some more for the scarab beetles.

"We're way over!" she said happily "As a reward we might get a pay rise. They do it often if you manage to go over on clean up. I'll radio someone to pick the truck up and we'll go get a drink!"

Within five minutes they had washed their hands and were heading up to some form of refreshment area. The intense heat was getting to him and he wanted nothing more than a cool ice cold drink. Zhun took him up a small set of stairs to a landing decked out with sets of tables and chairs along with some tarpaulin overhead protecting the seats themselves from the relentless sun. He had never been so thankful for tarpaulin of all things! There was a sign written in the same font as the rest of Prehistoric Park's signs that read: _Morrison Mumbo_.

"I'll get us a drink if you get a seat," Zhun said before running off. Apparently getting the drinks was going to be the easier job with almost every seat being occupied by guests. It was understandable with _Morrison Mumbo _offering the perfect view of one of the Brachiosaurus browsing the top of a tree oblivious of the noisy humans nearby. The park architects had also seemed to design the area to purposefully keep the dinosaurs away from the humans. It was impossible for anyone to throw something into the exhibit never mind feed the dinosaur. There seemed to be one table free of guests but it had a staff member sitting with a can of coke reading a book. She was younger than he was, of Japanese descent, quite pale but with dyed dark red hair. Despite the heat she was wearing a long sleeved shirt. The tag around her neck indicated that she was a senior member of staff. Wait, was she the mysterious Chiyo?

"Hey, is it alright if me and my friend can sit here?" he asked.

She looked up timidly from her book. It looked like she was shaking slightly. In an equally timid manner she nodded her head. He sat down and noticed that her shirt had Darth Vader on the front. He had heard that she was a sci-fi fan. Trying not to appear intrusive he looked at the cover of the book. It said _Globalisation, Democracy and Terrorism by Eric Hobsbawm_ with a photo of some soldiers underneath the title. Judging by the amount of creases on the spine it seemed that she had read the book often.

"Good book?" he asked trying to make conversation.

"Yes thank you," she said in a quiet voice. He distinctly recognised it as English but without a distinct regional area. If she was Chiyo it would make sense; most areas of Doncaster didn't have a broad accent. It looked like she just wanted to melt in a puddle. She made eye contact with him for a brief second before awkwardly returning to her book. "I'm Chiyo Ishado. Are you Jordan?"

When she asked that it seemed that her voice was strained. It was as if making conversation was physically difficult for her. He felt sorry for her. She seemed very socially awkward.

"Yeah. It's my second week here."

"I heard about what you did with the Pteranodon. It was very brave," she replied so quietly he almost couldn't hear her. He thanked her and she awkwardly smiled. However she started looking all around the place as if she wasn't sure where to look during conversation. Zhun then arrived and patted Chiyo on the shoulder.

"How's my favourite girl?" Zhun asked happily to which Chiyo nodded with a smile "Have you started a new book already?"

"No I've got another chapter on the other. Conor asked if he could borrow it ages ago so I thought I might as well let him borrow it now. I...I can easily catch up," she said giving a semi-smile.

"Which book was it again?"

"Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee. He had started it in the seventies but never finished it."

Some form of conversation then started. Well it was really Zhun rambling with Jordan interjecting at times with Chiyo occasionally saying something. It seemed that Zhun's extroverted personality had started to rub off on Chiyo's introverted one with her giving some longer answers.

"So Chiyo had did you start working here?" Jordan asked.

"It's complicated. I was doing a degree in History at Edinburgh but I had been helping two people with their Animal Biology and Palaeontology degrees. Someone noticed, I don't know who. With how well I was doing in my degree I got fast-tracked and got my masters years earlier than I should have done. Hammond was friend of the university Dean and he found out about what I did and hired me."

"Wow. You went and saved all the park's residents with Nigel then?" he asked curiously. Judging by the only other young women in his life, (his sister and ex), they wouldn't have stopped bragging about it so it went to show how different each person could be.

"Well Nigel did most of the work," she replied. This made Zhun laugh.

"Chiyo you have done quite some amazing things. Including with the Dromaeosaurus," Zhun laugh gesturing to a small scar on her lip. He had heard the story about how a stowaway Dromaeosaurus had cut Chiyo's lip, nearly tore out Bob's throat and caused a jeep to crash into one of the generators. Bob had called it one of the park's 'teething problems' before they got the biogas and auxiliary generators. Chiyo smiled faintly but quickly pulled her shirt sleeve back up to her wrist when she noticed it was getting too high up.

"What's your story Jordan?" she asked quietly. It was the first time she had properly asked a question and the prospect of troubling someone with an answer seemed to terrify the life out of her. He answered regardless. He told her about his time at university, his job at London Zoo working with birds of prey and his impromptu interview with Nigel at the Natural History Museum. All the time Chiyo gently nodded her pale face to show that she was listening to him.

"Hey Jordan when's our next job?" Zhun asked suddenly realising the time. It was now noon and the blaring sun was dominating the sky like a flaming despot.

"Because of the big load today we're pencilled in for the night shift on Sorna," he replied sighing. Another long night. "In the meantime we have to help wherever and whenever we can."

"Oh I'm studying the Dire Wolves tonight as well," Chiyo piped up. It seemed that she was finally somewhat comfortable with the situation.

A voice then came through the headset: _Keeper delayed for check on Ceolodonta. Any free keepers please go to Ice Age Mount._

They waited around two minutes to see if anyone else would answer the call. When it seemed that the call of duty would fall on them Jordan spoke through the headset stating that he and Zhun would check up on the woolly rhino.

"Is it alright if I come along as well?" Chiyo asked shyly.

"Sure!" Zhun replied.

"Thanks. I was worried about him because we thought he had ticks. He kept on rubbing himself on some trees he was losing his fur."

As soon as they stood up to leave one of _Morrison Mumbo's _staff ran up and took their emptied glasses which they soon were thanked for. Chiyo picked up a battered rucksack and put her book gently inside. Jordan was quite excited. He had gone to _Ice Age Mount _once on clean up duty but none of the inhabitants had gone anywhere near his end of the exhibit. Of course he had seen the inhabitants, (how could he forget the mammoths during the park's reveal). When he was helping Mary on feeding duty at _Cave Bear Hollow _they had a quick stop to watch the herds of aurochs and mastodon.

"Taking the monorail would be the best bet to get there quickly," Zhun commented "There's normally a jeep by the enclosure for us to get trampled on by our auroch friends"

They had to wait a few minutes for the next monorail but soon enough with a slight hiss like a mechanical snake the pure white monorail arrived. With another hiss the doors slid open and a few groups of people stepped out except for the children who darted out to eagerly to look at the Jurassic dinosaurs. One was shouting in German, (which he had learnt):

"Mummy, daddy come quick! Stegosaurus."

"Mikey don't run off and see the Brontosaurus without us!"

He had to smile. Brontosaurus had for over a hundred years to be known as being an Apatosaurus but it seemed that some people didn't get the message. They stepped onto the monorail and sat down on the comfy leather seats, (Hammond literally hadn't spared any expense), and waited until the monorail would set off again. He noticed that Chiyo had distinctively stopped shaking now. With a snake hiss the doors slid shut. The monorail shot off and the blue lights above the door indicated that the next stop was _Hell Creek_. Home to the fearsome Tyrannosaurus and the iconic Triceratops. He remembered it being on the news how people were complaining that the Tyrannosaurus was covered in feathers and the Triceratops having frills across the back; as if Hollywood was portraying the real creatures instead of the feathered and frilled animals browsing and hunting before them. The next stop read _Kirkman Formation_, then _Pterosaur Aviary_, _Pleasant Park _and finally _Ice Age_. He instantly envied Chiyo in her long sleeved shirt. Where generators were making parts of the park rich in oxygen and more humid for dinosaurs the area around _Ice Age _was distinctly colder.

"Brrrh. I'm not a fan of the snow and ice!" Zhun laughed as they headed towards where the jeep was parked. It involved passing _Ice Age Mount _itself though. He had to just stop and stare at the mammoth herd though. Martha stood there centre stage with her protective herd surrounding her. It was amazing how much humans and elephants were similar. They both cared for their family unconditionally. Even when an elephant was dying the herd would stay with them. Martha and her sister grasped trunks and seemed to hug one another. Snapped out of his delirium he followed Chiyo and Zhun to a large metallic building that was attached to a more wooded area of the exhibit. They entered a side door to reveal a large room filled with jeeps and thankfully a rack full of woolly coats. Instantly he felt warmer wrapped in the folds of the coat.

"Let's get a jeep then," Zhun said happily now that she was warm.

They climbed into a free jeep and the corrugated automatic door slid open with a series of loud clunks. Jordan turned the ignition and drove into the frosty enclosure. In front of their eyes a puff of cloud that was their breath appeared. With each puff another small cloud emerged before duly vanishing in the wind. Huge patches of snow were scattered among the trees in front of them.

"So where does the Ceolodonta live?" he asked.

"Around here actually. The vegetation that they eat grows here," Chiyo said quietly.

How hard could finding a woolly rhino be? The jeep was electric allowing virtually no sound to be made which he was glad for; a loud car could possibly incite a rhino to charge. A part of the forest up ahead had distinctly less patches of white and more lush green patches which would be a perfect place for a rhino to eat. He put the jeep into gear and started driving into the direction of the green. A female Megaloceros darted out in front of him and pranced off further into the exhibit.

"Do the Megaloceros go near here?" he asked.

"Oh yes. They normally stick by here although we sometimes see them on the plain but they stay away from the aurochs. I think we should too with Chiyo's hair!"

"But aurochs are bovine they're colour-blind. Oh right you're joking," Chiyo went silent again.

He parked the jeep near a grassy spot and looked for the Ceolodonta. He saw one but instantly Chiyo dismissed it as the one that they were looking for. He got out the jeep to check the ground for signs of another rhino. He saw some rhino shaped tracks but he had a strong suspicion that they belonged to the other rhino.

"Jordan I've found him," Zhun whispered.

He looked up and saw the Ceolodonta. He was browsing on the leaves of an odd tree that seemed misplaced. Instead of being with the other trees it was oddly in the middle of the plain. He could clearly see a large bald patch from his constant rubbing.

"It must have worked," Chiyo said "He was always rubbing himself and not eating. We…look out!"

He turned around to see a Megaloceros jump over him. He fell over as the deer's body raced over him and everything went black…

His head hurt. He could hear Chiyo's voice. She sounded frantic and was hyperventilating:

"It's my fault! If I had been doing my job and looking…"

"Chiyo you are blameless," the man had a New York accent "Now promise me you won't do anything stupid. Let's change your bandage…"

He started to sit up but his head screamed with pain. Still with his eyes screwed closed he clasped his head in his hands and swore. There was a chuckle next to him. He slowly opened his eyes to see an old man with a Santa Claus beard chuckling to himself… He had just sworn in front of his boss!

"It's alright lad. If I'd been concussed by an Irish Elk I too would be swearing like a sailor," he laughed in a broad Edinburgh accent. It seemed he must tone down his accent for the camera. He surveyed his surroundings. He was lying in a white bed with a white wrinkled curtain blocking his view of the rest of the room. The curtain was partially pulled and the doctor came in. He was a tall African-American in a white doctor's coat. He must have been the New Yorker.

"Ah you're awake." Definitely the New Yorker. "Please sit down you have minor concussion. I'm the park's doctor Solomon Paulson, Mary's husband. Yes she regaled me the story about you and the pterosaur. Seems your knack doesn't extend to deer." He smiled as he said this allowing Jordan to smile back. "Could have been a lot worse. Mr Hammond I suggest he has time off until Saturday but no more taking Nigel's approach to helping animals. Now if you excuse me I need to see someone else. Apparently because we have volcanic rock surrounding the islands the sun acts differently so sun protection is not needed!"

He drew the wrinkled curtain behind him earning a happy shake of the head from Hammond. The eccentric old man now turned to Jordan.

"Yours isn't the worst injury we've had. Some worker hired by my hapless nephew when we were converting this place for public use a builder assumed a Gallimimus was just a big chicken. Kicked him in the chest and he got three broken ribs! We were just thankful it was a juvenile and not an adult. Jordan I'm sorry I haven't seen you before now."

"It's alright Mr Hammond. Not many employers personally visit new employees."

"No no if my employees are going to be happy I have to make sure I'm on good terms with them. Please call me John or Hammond. That reminds me I have to complain at Solomon for calling me Mr," Hammond started violently coughing. He held up his hand to tell Jordan to remain in his bed as he quickly drank some water.

The next half an hour was spent with Hammond asking Jordan about his life as well as going over his story about rescuing a guests wallet from the Pteranodon, ("For a story is best told through the protagonists' mouth!"). He was worried though. Hammond's coughing interrupted the conversation with the rhythmic machine gun fire of his coughs. He was an old man and running a company and wildlife park must be hard on his health. Eventually Solomon thought it best that Hammond go rest. However when Hammond left he passed Jordan a note. It was written in small but neat curly handwriting:

_I'm sorry that I wasn't there to help you. Please forgive me. If you want me and Winston are having a gaming night at mine on Saturday if you want to come along. We're starting with Red Dead Redemption and Mortal Kombat on the Xbox 360 then do GTA V and Injustice: Gods Among Us on PS4. If you want._

_From Chiyo._

Jordan thought to himself: Have I just made a new best friend? There was a searing pain. Thinking was painful for now.


	4. A Love Interest?

A Love Interest?

The night breeze wafted over his face cooling him down from the warmth of the relentless Central American sun. It was the weekly gaming/movie night at Chiyo's bungalow. He had been amazed that he had been going each week for a month and a half now. Time really flew on the park. Although he had to laugh at a few faux pars he had made on the first night.

_One and a half months ago_

He knocked at the door. The door opened and yellow light with the accompaniment of very loud heavy metal music greeted him. Chiyo stood in the doorway smiling awkwardly.

"Hi Jordan do you want to come in?" she asked timidly.

He thanked her and stepped into the threshold. Unlike his bungalow Chiyo's front door immediately opened into the lounge which also was attached to the kitchen. It was moderately sized with most of it taken up by two black squashed sofas, a small dining table next to the kitchen and the largest bookshelf that he had ever seen outside of a library. It completely covered one wall, full to the brim with books, except for a small section which housed a TV with an assortment of games consoles. At the base of the bookshelf there were numerous cardboard boxes undoubtedly containing more books. Chiyo went to the windowsill where a CD player was still blaring out heavy metal. She turned it off going red.

"Sorry when I'm alone I sometimes put my music on loud," she whispered. It seems that she still was not fully comfortable. "How's your head?"

"Fine thanks. Dr Paulson said it could have been worse if the Megaloceros had actually hit me with its hoof," he said laughing which made Chiyo give a small smile.

"I'll get you a drink. I don't drink alcohol so it'll have to be coke, juice or lemonade. Make yourself at home."

When she went into the kitchen he looked around more at the lounge. He noticed a few posters on some of the walls, one a map of the world, another a map of Middle Earth, another a map of Westeros, (she must be a _Game of Thrones_ fan), and the last one was of Iron Man. There was a small stand behind him with lots of photos in frames but only one with Chiyo on it, (he assumed that her intense shyness meant that she must not like having her photo taken). All bar one was of animals in the park which he recognised: Tantor the Atlas Elephant, the Archelon missing a back fin, some of the Microraptor and the male Quetzalcoatlus. The last photo was Chiyo standing next to a girl around her age on the day Prehistoric Park opened. Hammond had erected a banner saying _'Welcome to Prehistoric Park'_ above the Compsognathus pen which had been distributed around the world's media for a week so he instantly recognised it. Smiling he could see one of the little dinosaurs standing on a rock in the background. Chiyo though seemed really happy standing next to the girl. She soon joined him handing him a fizzing clear glass of lemonade.

"You're place is amazing," he said which made Chiyo give a slight smile "Do you mind me asking who the other person is?"

"Oh that's my friend Jenny. She was the one doing paleontology. The year we went up was the first year that Edinburgh started to do it as a degree. She loved the park's opening day."

"You seem quite close."

"Well we are…well we," she seemed to be struggling for a word although he didn't think it was to do with her shyness "We're in…in a…"

He then understood.

"Oh. I didn't know you were…"

"She is but I'm not fully," she replied nonchalantly. Jordan smiled and they sat down and started talking about the night's criteria. When he went to sit down though something black darted from the sofa where he went to sit which made him jump out of his skin but made Chiyo laugh under her breath. A black cat with big green eyes jumped onto one of the cardboard boxes.

"Come on Bagpuss," she said picking the cat up "You know you're not allowed on my comic collection." She gently placed the cat on a cushion on the adjacent sofa and started purring when Chiyo stroked his head. Although Bagpuss kept on sending him dirty looks from across the room.

"So we're starting off with _Red Dead_ first," Chiyo started oblivious of the evil eyes her cat was giving him "Of course we'll have to wait until Winston arrives but I think he might want to have a go on _Skyrim_. I'm a big PC gamer and personally think it's better on PC with…"

She trailed off when he noticed something hanging off the back of one of her doors. It looked like a costume. Chiyo rubbed her arm and gave another shy grin.

"Me and Jenny have managed to get time off for Comic Con this year," she explained shyly "I was originally going as Aerith but changed my mind so now I'm going as Lightning."

"Who?" He would later regret this.

"Aerith from _Final Fantasy VII _and Lightning from _Final Fantasy XIII_! You don't know who they are."

He would also regret this. It turned out Chiyo obsessed over three game series: _Dragon Age_, _Elder Scrolls _and _Final Fantasy_. Chiyo made it her personal vow to ensure that he played every single one of the _Final Fantasy _games from now on. He was expecting an angry bombardment but instead got one of her explaining who all the different developers were, who her favourite characters were, which game he should play first, which had the best soundtrack. He was glad that she was now properly talking but was relieved when Winston arrived to actually start the night.

_Now_

"Hey Jordan!" a voice yelled. He turned around to see Bob walking up towards him. Bob sometimes joined in on the nights where they watched a movie so his presence indicated that was happening tonight. He had changed into some beige shorts which just went over his knees and a collared black shirt. It was the second time today that he had to get changed; he had slipped and fell into a bloody mess when feeding the Liliensternus earlier. To avoid smelling of dead cow and having big blue flies pestering him like a small child near Christmas he had to quickly get changed.

"No the film we're watching tonight?" he asked jovially.

"No idea. I just hope it's not another horror movie."

Bob laughed at that. He found it very funny that Jordan could easily look the largest carnivores to ever walk the earth in the eye, hear them roar just meters from where they stood, but cower at the same time from a ghost on a screen. He had his own view on it. He knew had to deal with a Tyrannosaurus or a Smilodon but how do you go around surviving something that shouldn't exist, something that never evolved or had no defined place in nature, like a ghost or werewolf. A bedraggled willow tree indicated that they had arrived at Chiyo's bungalow. The trunk was all bent and it seemed that someone had grabbed the top and morphed it into a curve shape. Chiyo insisted that they didn't have to knock just come straight in, (although she always insisted on knocking before entering someone else's bungalow).

"Shit!" they heard Winston's voice yell in frustration. Most likely he was on one of the game consoles and was being killed.

This proved to be right when he saw Winston being killed on the screen. Chiyo was curled up on the other squashy sofa reading a book. The cover was a dark red with yellow writing that read _The Penguin History of Modern Russia: From Tsarism to the 21__st__ Century_. It also had a picture below the writing of different Russian leaders where he only recognised one of them because of his big moustache. A meow came from his ankles. Bagpuss was staring up at him with big bright green eyes. The cat had forgiven him for almost sitting on him. He picked the cat up and sat down next to Chiyo with the cat on his knees who started rhythmically purring. Chiyo had gotten so used to Jordan now that she was willing to wear short sleeved shirts around him which revealed woollen bandages on her wrists.

"I thought you were good at video games?" Bob laughed slapping Winston on the shoulder who shook his head in embarrassment "What we're watching tonight?"

"I was waiting to see what everyone wanted to watch," Chiyo replied "Maria's said she's coming tonight."

Maria Raminez. Zhun had told him that she as soon as she passes her tranquiliser exam she'll be promoted from Keeper to Deputy Keeper. He had briefly seen her a few times when he went to work at Pierre Shale; one of the sea areas home to the Late Cretaceous sea creatures from North America ranging from the peaceful giant sea turtle Archelon to the monstrous Tylosaurus. There was a knock at the door and Chiyo got up to answer it.

"Hi guys!" the person said.

It was Maria. She was about 5'7'' with tanned skin and long wavy chestnut coloured hair that went down to her shoulders. She wore blue jeans and a short sleeved light blue shirt which exposed a tattoo on her arm of a turtle which looked very similar to an Archelon. He suddenly started feeling hot under the collar and his throat went awfully dry. Bagpuss jumped off of the sofa and started weaving in between her legs meowing softly.

"Hello baby," she said kneeling down to stroke the black cat. He started to purr and jumped onto the sofa in between Winston and Bob when she stopped stroking him. "Looks like I'm sitting next to you Chiyo!"

He swore the temperature had suddenly risen in the room as she approached him. What was going on? He hadn't felt like this since he tried to ask a girl he fancied out when he was fourteen. Maria sat down in between him and Chiyo. She turned and smiled at him. He couldn't help but notice how deep her hazel eyes were.

"Oh you must be Jordan. I'll be working with you when I pass my exam," she said cheerily.

He went to say something but it came out as: asghjid. What was happening? When he normally went to parties he wasn't exactly the life and soul of the party but he could actually say something that didn't sound like he was gurgling water. Maria laughed.

"I can see why Chiyo likes you. You're just as quiet as she is!"

She turned and hugged Chiyo who flinched at the unexpected sign of affection. Maria continued hugging her seeing she was quickly getting ticked off that Maria had disturbed her reading about Russian communists.

"I think we've met before. Don't you work in Pierre Shale?" He caught Winston and Bob holding their hands over their mouths to stifle laughter.

"Yeah I've seen you too. I think you can tell I love working with one of the animals," she smiled pointing to her tattoo "I was so happy when Chiyo saved Dharma and Darren. Although the Xiphactinus can be a right twat…"

He got lost in Maria's eyes. They were so hypnotic. Her voice was so soft and he just wanted to listen to it forever. He felt the hairs on the back of his neck stand on end like he had just been electrocuted when her hand went over his. The conversation went for who knows how long? They were talking about their jobs and the pros and cons when a scream brought them to. It came from the TV; a man in a hockey mask smashed a woman wearing little clothing into a mirror.

"Wait wait wait!" Maria said suddenly "What are we watching and did you chose it without us?"

Laughing she grabbed Chiyo and put her right arm around Chiyo's neck. Giving a small laugh Chiyo took Maria's arm from around her neck and pointed to the clock on the wall. It read _9:52_. They had been talking for almost an hour!

"It's _Friday the Thirteenth Part VIII: Jason Takes Manhattan_," Chiyo giggled "We thought to start the film with you two occupied."

Bob and Winston burst out laughing. Maria started to say something about being tired and started to get up to leave. The hairs on his neck were still prickling on his neck when she made her goodbyes. Nobody spoke for about five minutes after she had left.

"Jordan can I be best man?" Winston asked making everyone laugh and made Jordan turn so red it could easily be assumed that he failed to take sun protection a few hours ago.

_Monday_

His hands had turned deep purple from plunging his hand into the plastic bucket. The constant process of removing berries from the bucket and placing it into a hollow log he might as well been an automaton. Nearby Winston placing some pale chicken eggs in a crudely made artificial nest before struggling to place it on a tree branch while simultaneously climbing a set of ladders. The exhibit was quite hilly and jammed pack full of bamboo shoots and big bushy Katsura trees from China. Even the little holding area set up for the residents while new food is replenished resembled a Chinese forest. Winston out of breath nodded to him as he lifted up the metal ladder indicating that they were finished in this area. Jordan picked up the buckets and they passed through a door into the enclosure's mini-control room. Jordan pressed a button and he faintly heard a beep as a gate slid open. Faintly in the trees he saw a three metre high ape with orange-brown fur with an eerily flat human face. Unlike other great apes for them to properly breathe they had to adopt a bipedal stance. Looking at them Jordan thought it was no wonder that people thought Gigantopithecus could explain stories of the yeti. The leader of the group, Gaozu, walked up to the glass of the control room and peered in curiously. He often enjoyed doing this as if the keepers were being protected in a preserve and not his troop. They left the control room and saw a family speaking Turkish going to the exhibit, (he had managed to learn Turkish):

"Look they have Bigfoot here!"

"Come on. Bigfoot doesn't exist…Oh."

Winston took out his pager and looked where they had to go next. He couldn't tell if the smile on Winston's face meant that the next job was a mutually positive job or if there was a dire warning for Jordan.

"We've been so busy bees that we've only got one animal left: the Archelon."

He couldn't decide on what to feel at this point in time: uncontrollable happiness that he was going to see Maria or foreboding as it would open another wave of jokes. They headed to the docks on Isla Sorna and got on the yacht that was going to Pierre Shale. Like the rest of Prehistoric Park's vehicles it had the signature logo of a skeletal T Rex; this case big and bold on the light blue sails of the yacht. When Hammond said that he 'spared no expense' he must have having Prehistoric Park's logo printed on anything that could transport someone. When he set foot on the yacht someone came up behind him and gently slapped him on the head. Maria was smiling at him again with a twinkle in her hazel eyes from the Costa Rican sun.

"Hey stranger what are you doing here? Visiting me?" she said laughing.

"No he has an appointment with a hard shelled lady," Winston yelled from the front of the yacht.

"I can understand. Dharma is a beautiful lady," she replied. The yacht soon set off as the waves furiously lapped against the white hull of the yacht. The wind whistled around them as the yacht powered across the clear water. The yacht's captain had to look out though; between the furious white smashes from the waves were the tops of the sea tanks poking from the water. Smashing against one of them could lead the yacht to be stranded in a tank with possibly one of the most dangerous creatures to ever swim. He had seen the young Tylosaurus bite its way straight through bone as if it was a matchstick and he definitely did not fancy coming face to face with the mother's jaws. The yacht slowed down to a near standstill which made the rush of the wind much less noticeable. More like a whistle than a roar. There was a small click and then the gates on the sea tank gently slipped open allowing the yacht entry. _Archelon Archipelago _was a clear blue expanse of land although the tiny set of four islands hardly merited the name of archipelago compared to the giant landmass of Isla Nublar and Los Cincos Muertas.

"I might get my wetsuit on with you," Maria said nonchalantly looking at the sea with longing. Feeding the Archelon was a very enjoyable experience. It involved actually getting in the water with the giant turtles to tie containers full of cephalopods, molluscs and jellyfish to weights attached to the seabed. When he jumped in, (although after an intense struggle with a difficult to get on wetsuit), the warmth of the water swept over him. It was like getting in a warm bath on a cold day. Behind him there was two splashes indicating that Maria and Winston had jumped in behind him. The seabed around the small islands were covered with iridescent corals of all variety which soon dissipated into a sandy seabed where the turtles were normally found. A small shoal of silver fish like little daggers darted around him before swimming off into the shimmering distance. There were two splashes indicating that people on the yacht had just thrown in the containers for the Archelon. They floated near the surface so they had to drag with force against the current to get to the undersea weights. Luckily they were attached by a magnet so it was a simple job. With a flurry of bubbles the containers attached themselves to the weights and a side compartment slid open allowing a light jellyfish to bob out. A black shape swept over him. Looking up he saw what looked like a giant leatherback turtle, (a considerable feat considering the size of leatherbacks), except that it had a pointed head. The turtle had all four fins: this one was Darren. Not missing such an opportune moment he swam up and grabbed the top of the turtle's shell. With effortless strokes the Archelon took him along. He was swimming with an Archelon! Maria gestured to him and he swam up to her. She gestured again for him to go onto the surface.

"I've got something to show you!" she shouted as he stepped onto sandy beach. The water gently lapped against his feet. She waved at him to go into a small thicket of palm trees. What interested him though was what seemed to be a small fence.

"Don't worry about the fence. It's to stop the Archelon getting too close when they finally lay eggs," she explained. The fence was hardly a foot high so he easily stepped over it. Standing behind the fence was a statue made of stone which itself stood on a table made of the same grey stone. The edge of the table had intricate carvings running around the side of fish, turtles and birds but he noticed there were deep cuts in the table.

"What is this?" he asked.

"I had to ask Chiyo that as well. A few are like this are scattered across the Five Deaths but this one is the smallest. Years and I mean years ago, around the time Cleopatra lived, there was a tribe that used these islands. They lived on the mainland but came out here. I can't remember what they were called but they vanished about two thousand years ago for some reason. Anyway they took their worst criminals like mass murderers and bastards like that to these islands. They took the worst of the worst to the Five Deaths but not Isla Nublar because of the fog to be executed. The very bad ones they took to each five islands and did something like crushing or hanging and then took them to the next island. They set up these pedestals for the not as evil ones and they would execute them here."

His hand was resting on an incision in the stone. He quickly withdrew his hand. Someone had been executed on that thing! Maria laughed at his immediate withdrawal from the execution slab.

"When the tribe vanished no other tribes went there. Supposedly the islands were haunted by those executed. Well it had an impact. When the Spanish arrived they were too scared to go here, one ship tried but it sank near Muerta, later British merchants tried to buy the islands but something spooked them and in the 1920s a German company leased the archipelago and then it was returned to the Costa Ricans after the war. Hammond came after and the rest is history."

A chill ran down his spine. There was something foreboding about the islands when you first saw them. No wonder it took centuries for people to actually investigate the islands. He could understand their fear of the unknown. Well if any ghosts of murderers were still here by the time Hammond come along they surely would have met their match with the hordes of dinosaurs. Nevertheless mass murderers' ghosts made him eager to change the subject.

"When do you get off?" he asked quite rapidly.

"Now actually, I had to wait until the Archelon were fed. Why are you asking me out on a date?"

He blushed. At the same time he was glad that she said yes. Soon the yacht was arriving in the docks ready for use from someone else. Before he could go on his 'date' with Maria they went to Nublar to get changed out of their work clothes.

"You sly dog Jordan," Winston whispered to him as they stepped out of the Deputy Keeper's office changed out of their uniforms "Already got a date a month in."

"Shut up you," although it was hard to mean this while smiling "Anyway are relationships allowed between staff?"

"Sure. Well they are as long as you don't," He made a rude hand gesture "when you should be working or somewhere stupid."

Maria stepped out from some dew covered ferns after a few minutes. Today she had a golden necklace with a small piece of amber hanging down from the chain.

"That's a beautiful necklace," he complemented.

"Oh thank you. I got it when I first started working here," she replied with her hazel eyes shining. From the other night he remembered that she had worked at Prehistoric Park since day one. He had been transfixed about how she had almost cried with excitement when the Ankylosaurus first edged his way through the portal.

"So where did you want to go?" he asked choking slightly. It had been years since the last time he had gone on a first date.

"Well for ages I used to work at _Jurassic Heights _until they got the Archelon. Well Chiyo knew how much I like turtles and got it so I could work with them. That's anyway how our friendship started and the origin of my tatt. You fancy having a few drinks at _Morrison Mumbo_?"

Soon after he sat at a table sipping an ice cold glass of coke with Maria who was resting her hand on his. Again the hairs on his neck prickled. It was just something about her which set this fire in his stomach. It would have been idealistic if not for the deep rumbling sound. Nearby he could see the rectangular green head of one of Prehistoric Park's Apatasaurus. The peg like teeth just tearing leaves from the tree with great strips. He saw signs of a glistening nostalgia in Maria's eyes looking at the sauropod. What he would have given to see the Apatasaurus first coming through the time portal.

"I miss working with them sometimes. Although cleaning up after them was a bitch."

"When you become a Deputy Keeper you'll be seeing a lot of them again."

"Hopefully it should be sometime in this month."

There was a clicking noise and a cough which could only be one person: John Hammond. In the last few weeks his health had picked up marginally which meant that everyone had been seeing him more often. He loved the park and it was clear that he wanted to be in the park as often as he could but it was clear that this brief respite would not last long. Hammond was walking next to an African-American man with short curly hair, large circular glasses and a striped collared shirt whose sleeves were rolled up to his elbows.

"That's John Ray Arnold. He runs all the computers and stuff like that," Maria whispered. The stress on John Arnold's face was clear and well justified. Most things in the park ranging from the Gyrosphere tours to opening the gates were computer operated.

"Ah Maria, Jordan! Lovely day!" Hammond waved at them.

He and Arnold sat near them at a table. It seemed that they were having a serious conversation which Maria and Jordan mutually agreed to listen to covertly.

"John the park is working smoothly," Hammond said "There's no need to worry. Ah thank you Natasha. I really needed a drink."

"Yes on face value but we still have many problems," Arnold replied. He took three nicotine gum slips from a packet and took them at once. "For one we have a hell of a problem with the Gyrospheres. We have to manoeuvre them in between the different herbivore exhibits and then we have to deal with making sure the guests keep away from the animals. Some of the sensors keep recording the guests as animals because they don't have a chip in their badge. We almost called security on someone yesterday because we thought he was an escaped Phorusrhacos! Then there are the animals. The Megalodon makes repairing the monorail near impossible, guests get genuinely scared when the Tyrannosaurs fight and the Triceratops keep seeing the Gyrospheres as a threat. Then there's that new dinosaur you want to bring back…"

They decided to leave the argument and take a better look at _Jurassic Heights_. He had heard about a new species of abeliasaurid discovered by Paul Sereno in what would have been an island off the coast of Argentina in the Late Cretaceous. It was very strange having no feathers, chameleon like skin and even opposable thumbs. Indominus Rex.

"Oh look at the Dryosaurs!" Maria sighed with longing.

The little dinosaurs were scampering around the Stegosaurus who was lazily sweeping his long tail spikes. She then turned to him.

"I've really enjoyed today. Thank you." She kissed him on his cheek. He smiled.


	5. Arrival of Young

Arrival of Young

Bullets of water smashed the surface of the water churning it into a violent froth. Where one ripple began and another ended was almost impossible to tell; made even more difficult by the rain creating another ripple to make matters worse. It was the weekly rainy day which he dreaded. Hard bullets virtually glued Jordan's hair to his forehead as he tried to rub trickles from his eyes. The gentle rocking of the yacht did not make matters any better with him having to keep balance as well as his eyesight. His hands were virtually frozen onto the now icy cold metal railing of the yacht.

"How can you bear this?" he asked Conor Oakes who was standing with his shirt off and a crumpled black wetsuit that was only half put on. It looked like he had just skinned a seal and was attempting to wear it. Conor gave his signature slight smile. He noticed finally Conor's tattoo on his arm and it seemed to be some form of symbol. It consisted of a brick red face but the face looked like it was made of someone's hand. The little and ring fingers were curved over the face's forehead and the thumb was curving itself from the back of the head to rest of the ring finger. The index and middle finger were pointing upwards in a v shape. A red circle surrounded the face/hand tattoo. Maria waved at him through the yacht's cabin which looked like heaven and he gave a jealous wave back.

"Are you two ready?" a voice asked. Suzanne McNab, the Park's Head Vet, was in a wet suit as well and her black hair was plastered to her face like Jordan's. "Aren't you cold Conor dressed like that in this rain?"

He gave another slight smile and fully put on his wetsuit. Jordan picked up a small staff and walked with Conor to a giant wire meshed sphere at the far end of the yacht. Suzanne was getting into an almost identical one at the other end. He felt like he had millions of caterpillars crawling around his stomach which were threatening to burst through at any moment. Ever since this morning he had been dreading this. Bob had put Conor and himself with the vet Suzanne as the last creatures were either being born or hatching from their eggs but today was different. This was one creature that hadn't mated this year but Suzanne wanted to see it anyway. Turns out naturally occurring parasites had put toxins into this animal's blood stream and she wanted to make sure that the mysterious Dr Wu's antitoxin had completely rid the animal of the toxin. With a shriek the intercom started to play the theme from _Jaws_. Maria gave him a cheeky wave.

"Your girlfriend has a dark sense of humor," Conor sighed gruffly.

He wasn't the only keeper who felt struck down by spontaneous sea sickness when having to go into the water, (even when protected by a cage), with what swam beneath the depths. Even feeding it was a terrifying ordeal and they didn't have to leave the safety of the yacht; Maria had told him that it was once was much more horrific feeding it before the new method was adopted. The icy cold water smashed into him as he stepped into the wire meshed sphere which was slowly dipped into the water. Out of fear he gripped tightly to the staff but it would offer no protection. Emitting an electric wave it would even attract the thing that he feared. A muffled splash echoed nearby and the water nearby turned a hellish red. It did not take long for a giant black cigar shape to materialise like the devil himself in the distance. Except that it was amazing how Satan looked like a shark.

"You two make sure you keep her gills facing me," Suzanne said through her headset.

The Megalodon came closer and closer into view. He could see the triangular teeth which seemed to want to impale him and crush his bones. The shark went and lunged for the chunk of unfortunate animal. With one twist of its terrifying head half of the bloodied carcass was torn off and swallowed whole. Conor noticed how the gills were not perfectly facing Suzanne so set off his staff. The shark faced them with teeth smashing against the metal with loud clank after clank. Out the corner of his eye he saw something white hit the shark's gill which turned dark green before bobbing onto the surface. Someone on the yacht let the bloody carcass drop to the bottom of the dark water which thankfully meant that they could go back on board.

"It's green," Suzanne said pulling the item by a string back on board "Clear of toxin."

The rain had dissipated and the sun had started to peak out from the grey clouds. As he was getting changed from his wetsuit Maria was chatting to Conor and Suzanne. It seems that after a brief encounter with a shark over twice the length of a great white wasn't the last of the day.

"Are you two with me all day?" Suzanne asked.

"Yes," Conor replied "Although I believe that Jordan and newbie will be having lunch by themselves."

He had to smile. A joke from Conor was rare and well appreciated. Literally just the day before Maria had passed the tranquiliser test which allowed her to finally become a Deputy Keeper.

_Yesterday_

He and Conor stuck close by to the dirt swept jeep. Sweeping around them was dull yellow grassland with almost puddles of orange red dirt intermingled. They stood nearby a series of conical sand mounds that were slightly moving. Intermingling between the white sands were rat sized pure black animals where the bodies of the small animals were covered in some fluff with tiny quills on the hindquarters. Like their parents they had a small frill, (albeit more distorted than their parents), and a parrot like beak. Unlike the babies the adults were the size of sheep, a sandy colour with very long frills on the back. A big male made a deep rumble and clacked his beak with a loud snap.

"Let's keep away from them now," Conor said "We're supposed to stay away from them."

They climbed back into the jeep. Eight new Protoceratops now inhabited the Flaming Hills along with numerous Gallimimus and Deinocheirus. They just had to find the Therizinosaurus nests and then they would have confirmed all the dinosaur eggs that had hatched in the Flaming Hills area. The Velociraptors and Oviraptors nested every two years so as he was slightly late to see baby raptors; by about a year or so. As they were driving towards the area claimed by the Therizinosaurs a clear Gyrosphere with two overexcited people sitting inside who were waving at a Gallimimus as if it could see them. The Gyrospheres had to stay on a specific area so the guests couldn't get too close to the animals. Most likely a good idea to stop someone from playing a game of chicken with a Deinocheirus. One large Therizinosaurus was stripping leaves from a tree with the scythes that made up its formidable claws. With one long swipe of the curved giant scythes one large palm leaf was sliced off the tree and the Theriznosaur dropped the leaf down for the clicking chicks to eagerly tear at. They were the size of chickens but wavered in between comical and cute with their spindly necks and arms covered in brown fluff.

"Four chicks for that batch," Jordan said looking through his binoculars "I can't see the other. Wait no I can see the other group. Three."

A male and female Therizinosaur came marching through the bush scattering the bushes as they went. Three little chicks jumped around their parents clawed feet chirruping like starlings. The other clutch of chicks spotted their fellow feathered brethren and ran at them. It was an odd sight-seeing the chicken sized balls of fluff chirp and shake their little arms at each other. Climbing back into the jeep they headed off to the exhibit entrance.

"We'll check the Nothosaurus chicks," Conor said as they went through the gate "Though Saeed said at a guess he thinks there might be twelve from all three nests. We also have to check on the Thylacoleo as well. Might be twins."

He saw his tattoo again poking from under his shirt. He still could not tell what it was.

"Hey Conor what's your tatt?" he asked curiously. Conor rolled his eyes.

"Something that I got when I was eighteen which I want to put behind me. Wait…Is that Chiyo and Maria?"

Maria was standing just outside the entrance waving her arms excitedly above her head. Chiyo stood sheepishly next to her awkwardly. She must not be enjoying the attention that his girlfriend was attracting.

"I've passed!" In an instant he jumped out of the jeep and embraced her. He started to kiss her on her soft lips.

"Have you two heard of self-control?" Chiyo asked shyly.

He stared into her shining hazel eyes.

"It'll be a propa' office romance now," he laughed.

_Today_

They had their arms interconnected as they walked. He could feel her breath rise slowly up and down on his arm which was slightly below her ribs. Now that it was her break she had her dazzling amber pendant out of her shirt and was now bouncing up and down with every step she took. The sun which had finally won the battle with the weekly rainclouds caught the amber piece and glistened brightly as a jewel. They were walking to their next stop for after the end of their break, (or as Suzanne called it 'a dinner date'), so they didn't have to rush. Dirt that had started to become harder from the rains earlier squelched under their boots.

"Mari you know you like tats?" he asked her. Maybe Mari's love of tattoos could unravel the mystery of Conor's?

"Course I do. Why ask?"

"Well. I've seen Conor's and was wondering what his meant."

"Oh yeah. Looks like a face. No idea but… I think it might be related to history or something."

They both looked at each other with a knowing look. There was one person who would definitely know the answer but they would have to wait. Nearby the Santa Cruz Plains stretched for a fair distance where the herds of the bizarre Macrauchenia lazing in the cool earth. Their new offspring were aimlessly trying to walk around the exhibit exercising their newfound ability rather clumsily. One baby Macrauchenia got too near a large black and white hippo like Toxodon which was sunbathing in the new sun. It gave a grunt which caused the inquisitive baby the first fright in its life. At this stage herbivores learn what is a danger and what is a friend. Could that Toxodon have already installed a long lasting fear of Toxodon in that baby Macrauchenia? Saying that adult Macrauchenia were normally skittish anyhow.

"I can't wait to see them," Maria said happily. They stood just in front of the Smilodon pen. A large rock was directly in the middle of the exhibit where the golden coloured Smilodon with black spots like a leopard was lounging. One of his formidable canines had been snapped in half which earned him his named: Half-Tooth. His two year old sons were scrapping amongst each other in a playful way. It would not be long before Half-Tooth decided to chase his former cubs away. An unfortunate part of nature that Prehistoric Park would have no other choice but to recreate. Maria ushered him to a small hut which normally allowed guests to observe the Smilodon where they slept but today it was cornered off with signs in many languages saying **Staff Only**. She pushed open the door and was surprised to see Chiyo already sitting there. The room was dark and she had her notepad out, (obviously recording the Smilodon's behaviour), and her half eaten lunch on the seat next to her. Even in the dark he could see the bandages on her wrists and was hit with a pang of sadness. Chiyo turned to them and placed a finger on her lips.

"Hi Chiyo," Maria said hugging her which made Chiyo give an uncomfortable shudder. She still was not used to contact.

"Are these the cubs?" he asked tentatively.

"Three. I can't tell what sex though yet until Suzanne comes," Chiyo explained.

Sonya the Smilodon was lying in her straw bedding licking a mewing ball of black fur. Her dark pink tongue slipped from between her white curved teeth over the fur of the mewing ball. Two other balls were suckling at the stomach of their mother. The circular head of the ball being cleaned looked up at the glass but its eyes were screwed up. Although Jordan knew that this was due to the cub being blind but he had to admit that it added a huge level of cuteness to the cub. The mother gently picked up the cub by the scruff of its neck and placed it close to its siblings. Sensing an opportunity for food it managed to shuffle over to a free spot to start suckling with its tiny paws.

"They are so adorable!" Maria cooed "I just want to cuddle them."

"I think mummy might tear out your throat if you tried though," Jordan laughed.

Chiyo smiled and continued to write in her notepad. He then remembered what he had to ask her.

"Hey Chiyo I've seen this image somewhere and could you I dunno, identify it?" he asked.

She nodded her head and handed him a pencil with her notepad so he could sketch it. He was never good at art at school but he hoped that the she could recognise the crude picture. It seemed to resemble Conor's tattoo. Although he didn't specify that it was Conor's tattoo; judging by his reaction yesterday he must not have wanted people to know about it.

"Sorry I'm shit at art."

By the look on her face it seemed that his drawing, however crude, was somewhat legible.

"Yeah that's AIM's logo," she said but by the look of puzzlement on his and Maria's face she elaborated "The American Indian Movement. Neither of you heard of them? Well, they were like the Black Panthers but for largely young Native Americans in the late 1960s and 1970s. They did a huge number of protests like they occupied Mount Rushmore, did a stand-off at Wounded Knee and got loads of people on their side. Quite big people as well like Marlon Brando. It's still fighting for Native American rights but it's not as big as it once was. Where did you see it?"

"Oh…I think a guest was wearing a shirt with it on," he quickly lied. He slipped the paper into his pocket. So Conor's tattoo was of AIM's logo. Chiyo said though it largely consisted of young Native Americans in the late '60s to the '70s. Conor's age put him being about eighteen by around the early 1970s…

His trail of thought was cancelled after the Smilodon mother gave a low moan as she roared. Her long curved teeth illuminated in the low light. She rested her head carefully next to the balls of fluff which were mewing blindly by her stomach. Half an hour later Suzanne and Conor arrived.

"Same as last time," Suzanne said placidly "A Litter of three. Whether it will be two boys and a girl again is another matter."

He knew that Smilodon raised their cubs much like lions where the mother for the first few weeks would raise her litter in a place that she knew was safe away from the rest of the pride. She only really left to eat so to sex the cubs they would have no choice but to wait until she got hungry. After a long wait she gently stood up so not to avoid disturbing her cubs and walked out into the sunlight. Evidently someone in the control room must have been watching as the door to the resting area closed with a clang separating the Smilodon from the cubs. They went through the side door and were immediately hit by an overpowering musky smell. The only thing he could compare it to was the school changing rooms which was only cleaned once every few years.

"Pick them up carefully and limit your contact with them," Suzanne whispered.

He took the one furthest away. It mewed softly at him and he got the overpowering urge to cuddle it. Although he knew that if he did the sudden change in temperature would be too much for the little cub. Gently turning the cub over, with it giving soft cries all the time, he checked the sex. Female.

"This one's female," he whispered gently placing the cub in its original position.

"So is this one," Suzanne replied.

"And this one," Conor concurred.

They quietly left the resting area to return back to the viewing area. With another clang people in the control room opened the entrance once more. Minutes later the mother returned with the snout now an odd mixture of red and gold.

"That was the last baby animal so far," Suzanne told them "We're just waiting on Martha which is any day now. I'll keep you two posted about when she gives birth."

"Have you got a free day now?" Chiyo asked quietly Maria and Jordan as Suzanne and Conor left the room.

"I have but the Deer Wrestler here is on Night Patrol later," Maria laughed cheekily punching his arm. To wind him up she had given him the title 'Deer Wrestler' in honour of him being concussed by a Megaloceros. "Come on Chiyo it looks as if you need someone to talk to. I know you won't talk but I can still make you. Jord I think you should get some shut eye."

He nodded in agreement. Night Patrol would have him checking up on animals for most of the night and the job was just as difficult as it was in the daytime. Quite a few of the park's residents remained active or became even more active during the night. Especially the raptors. The last thing that he wanted was to fall asleep on the glass in the staff viewing area only to wake up with a pair of deadly amber eyes staring straight back. He said bye to Chiyo and kissed Maria on the cheek before heading off for the monorail. With a hiss the doors slid open and he took the nearest unoccupied chair that wasn't filled with families excited out of their minds speaking in every language that could ever be spoken. He would have to wait a while though before he could rest in his bed which was now calling him like a lover; Santa Cruz Plains was one of the first stops so he would have to wait until it went around the entire track before he could go home. At times he wished that there were more than two monorails for this reason, (this one and another taking guests from the docks to the Visitor Centre). The window was cold against his head as he leant against it. Isla Nublar scattered past him as the monorail silently sped across the track. Judging how he saw through the leaves the orange and black stripes of a Caspian Tiger he knew that the track was soon leaving Nublar. His estimate was right as the monorail then sped over the tranquil sea. At one part he saw a large whale tail burst from the surface before sinking back down.

"Mom, look a Basilosaurus!" a little kid with a Californian accent shouted in glee.

"Yes honey," his mother said with apparent disinterest.

He never understood that from some guests. Why come to a remote island chain that was haunted by the ghosts of murderers and inhabited by some animals that went extinct before terrestrial plants evolved if you look at them with disinterest? He had overheard a parent once complaining loudly that the Tylosaurus had just swam past his viewing area and did nothing. Well I'm sorry that the bloody thing didn't smash through the viewing dome and rip apart your family in a frenzy of blood and gore for your entertainment! Well those people were few in number. He was surprised though how animal rights groups loved this place. The 'only true establishment with the animals' interest at heart' he overheard one PETA organiser say! Looking down he saw what looked like a thick log slithering into the sea between some mangroves. The giant snake Gigantophis. He couldn't wait for Amy to see that monster. His sister had rang him saying that she had booked tickets for her, her daughter Dani and her fiancé, (or the dick as Jordan nicknamed him). The scenery had changed again and the monorail was now speeding over a plain containing two very large monitor lizards; he liked the Varanus, (formerly known as Megalania), with them being such an interesting animal. People always assumed big lizards were slow and sluggish but like the smaller Komodo Dragon they were capable of massive bursts of speed. The monorail stopped to let people get off to look at the strange animals that once lived in Australia. He gently shut his eyes.

_Midnight_

There was a faint buzz from the electric lighting on the path. He could see giant grey moths lazily fluttering around the bright yellow light against the sea of black. Most of the surrounding background was blocked off by the silhouettes of trees that put him on edge. He was nearby the Allosaurus exhibit on Nublar and this with the fog kissing the ground made the area primeval. He hated the dark and this did not help him. Every other minute he expected to see the pointed snout of an Allosaurus peak from the trees before charging after him. He knew though that was unlikely though. They were safely behind a moat and a fence but most importantly they mostly lurked the land through the day. Well the older ones and the new chicks did, Chiyo told him that juveniles hunted often at night to avoid adults. Luckily the park won't have juveniles until the chicks grow up a bit. The Dromaeosaursus though was nocturnal… He heard something rustling in the bushes ahead.

"Who's there?" he asked cautiously.

He smiled when he saw Nigel Marven walk past the bush with a smile on his face. Still smiling he walked up to Jordan and they shook hands.

"Hey. How you doin'?" Nigel asked.

"Fine thanks. I didn't know managers went on Night Patrols."

"Not normally but with Martha due any day now well I thought I should get out in the park once in a while," he said longingly "I used to be in the park all the time helping the keepers until we opened to the public. Well then being a manager actually became its traditional job instead of running through the time portal to rescue animals."

"Well there's still that Indominus Rex that I've heard about," he replied. Well it was more like have nightmares about.

"Bob found this very amusing but I decided to go against Hammond and not rescue it," Nigel told him but the sound of his voice made it seem that he would love nothing more to go rescue it "Well it was super intelligent, had opposable thumbs, was heavily armoured, was a massive carnivore and could change colour. If it only was one of those things or even two we wouldn't have hesitated. Although Simon Masrani wanted us to go get one."

"Simon Masrani? As in the tycoon?" He knew about Simon Masrani. He had taken control of Masrani Oil in the mid '90s and had converted it to Masrani Energy to accommodate green energy as well as close down the old oil fields. He knew also that he had subsidiary companies everywhere.

"Yeah well Hammond told me in '98 Masrani bought into InGen and well he was a big a dino nut as me and Hammond. Threw everything he had to help us build this place. We used Timack Construction to build the staff houses and exhibits. About a year before we opened InGen was going bust and Masrani was willing to buy this place to keep it shut off from the public but the board decided to open it as a wildlife park. Well Masrani was still up for it and Hammond hired Timack to guest proof the place and his greedy nephew hired a right bunch of wallies. One called Nick still works here although he changed his ways after being scared half to death. The day before we met Masrani approached Hammond's nephew and made him this deal. Hammond's nephew would get a big job and nice apartment in Dubai working for Masrani Energy while Simon buys his shares in InGen. Simon is now the second biggest shareholder in InGen. Although it's clear he only wanted in to give him an excuse to constantly visit the park."

He had just noticed that they had walked right up to the Allosaurs. Only one could be seen but it was happily sleeping under a bunch of cycads. It looked strangely peaceful sleeping there. Suddenly a voice came through his headset: _Martha is giving birth! Repeat Martha is giving birth!_

He and Nigel ran as fast as they could to the exhibit. A few minutes later they were red in face and out of breath. Chiyo, Conor and Maria waved them over so they could go into the exhibit. Although he was on the lookout not wanting to be concussed by a Megaloceros again. He saw Suzanne standing near Martha with her hand submerged among the folds of the mammoth's fur. Martha's sister Ellie had her trunk wrapped around her sisters and they were gently rocking back and forth. Nigel ran up to Martha who gave a trumpet of delight. Nigel had the same bond with Martha that he had noticed that Chiyo had with Tantor the Atlas Elephant.

"We need to go slowly," Chiyo whispered gesturing to the rest of the herd. They were forming a protective ring around Martha and Ellie and one had already scared off a sleeping Auroch. He found it amazing that they had adopted Martha as their matriarch and were now virulently defending her despite the fact they were not blood. It just shows how intelligent elephants were and how much their emotions were to humans. If poachers could see this side to them he imagined that illegal hunting of their tusks would plummet. Although when he said this idea to Winston weeks ago, (who had worked with African Elephants in the wild), he said most poachers try and kill humans as well.

"Martha I'm here," Nigel said softly resting his hand on her shoulder. She gave another trumpet of thanks. Then it happened. A big blood covered mass appeared next to Martha's hindquarters and she turned around to nuzzle it with her trunk. In a few seconds it was making high pitched trumpeting sounds. Ellie went up to Nigel and fondly rubbed his head with her trunk.

"It's a boy!" Suzanne told them.

"How about Lech for a name?" Chiyo asked "We got Martha from Poland and Lech Walesa led the Solidarity movement which I think the herd just showed."

Everyone nodded in agreement. Lech the first mammoth to be born since the end of the last Ice Age. He felt the luckiest person to be alive to just have witnessed it.


	6. Visitors

Visitors

Jordan walked around the edge of the pen. He placed some dead chicks in a hollowed out tree trunk and cringed. The chicks had been artificially grown in the labs so had never been alive to begin with but he still found it upsetting placing the little yellow bodies for the hunter to later find and eat. He was glad that he had never needed to feed small mammalian carnivores in his past jobs; hornbills, eagles and crocodiles were never interested in small baby birds but rather fruits and fairly larger chunks of meat. There was a small series of calls that sounded like _wow-wow-wow-wow_ coming from behind a tree stump in front of him. Two shapes that were black with some speckles of a very dark orange on the body darted from behind the stump and started rolling over one another. They were two of the first five baby Warrahs to be born since their extinction over 120 years ago. He knelt down quietly to watch them for a while. He had the rest of the day to get his jobs done! The two cubs ran around each other in a circle playing joyfully still making their loud wow calls. Soon his calves started to burn from the constant kneeling so he got up and headed for the gate. As he got to the gate Bob ran up to him panting.

"Alright Jord…" he waved his hands panting and red in the face. "How're our little foxes?"

"Only James and Jasper were out. You should see them playing together. What can I help you with?"

"I'm taking over your jobs for the today and tomorrow. Your sister's here!"

Jordan gave a deep groan. He loved his sister but her unsavoury fiancé was a completely different matter.

_That morning_

Him, Maria, Saeed and Winston sat around the small wooden table each clutching some cards to their chest. Early morning blackjack was an ordeal after waking up just half an hour earlier and had not fully recovered. Zhun was absentmindedly talking to Mary who slowly nodded her head while doing a crossword puzzle in the newspaper that had arrived by boat just that morning. Conor was flicking through his copy of the _Prehistoric Park Keeper Animal Guide_. Apparently he liked flicking through it occasionally so he wouldn't get 'rusty'. Instead of Bob coming through the door however it was Nigel. Jordan sat up immediately and scattered his cards in panic sending them scattering across the table. He had never seen Nigel in the Deputy Keeper's office before.

"I knew you had that ace!" Winston cried.

"Hi guys Bob's been on night shift," Nigel announced "Thought I would give him a lie in and come down here. Well I'm sure you know who's here today."

They all nodded in acknowledgement. When Chiyo had found out she had almost burst in excitement; she even offered to take the guest on a special tour which he had been informed had only happened once before. After hearing that the first mammoth to be born since the last Ice Age had been named Lech after the first post-communism Polish President Lech Walesa the mammoth's namesake had eagerly come to Prehistoric Park to meet him.

"We're all eager to make a good impression and hopefully his first day here will be good!" Nigel beamed at them as if knowing that his keepers would instantly impress the former President "Although Chiyo is only giving him a tour for today. Tomorrow she's giving another tour."

"Who else is coming? Gorbachev?" Saeed joked. He did make a good point. Chiyo's intense shyness meant that she would more likely swim with a hungry Liopleurodon (something inadvisable even when well fed) than give a tour to someone unless if they had wrote a fantasy book or led a country.

"No not Gorbachev but she did meet him when we opened up for the public. Some people thought it strange that a girl in her late teens invited someone who lived in the Kremlin to the opening over a singer but we wouldn't have her any other way. Her friend from university has a week off for the autumn holidays so she's visiting Chiyo. Charlotte I think she's called."

Maria and Jordan shared a look across the table. They weren't sure if Nigel knew if Charlotte and Chiyo were _very _close friends.

"Okay now let's get to how's doing what today," Nigel said pulling out a tablet "Jordan feeding duty so I'll give you the list soon, Maria and Mary feeding duty, Winston clean up…" Winston pulled a face "Sorry about that. Saeed and Zhun you two are to check on the Smilodon and then here's the list for the young you need to check the growth on and me and you Zhun are checking on some other young. Okay gang let's get going!"

As they stood up Nigel hung back to talk to him.

"Jordan your sister and her family is coming today. Bob will take over from your jobs when they arrive."

He rolled his eyes. It was customary at Prehistoric Park if someone came to visit for that staff member to give them a tour of the park for one or two days. This was fine where his sister and niece were concerned but her fiancé…

_Now_

He stood at the visitor docks with his arms crossed. Despite it being autumn it was a lovely day; normally he heard that Prehistoric Park experienced heavy rains from autumn to winter. So far they had been spared the heavy torrents of rain that annually engulfed the islands. He had never taken the visitor entrance to Prehistoric Park. When he first arrived he had gone in a helicopter with Nigel Marven and he had no need to leave the park since with it having shops and entertainment areas on Isla Pena. The visitor dock was much more aesthetically pleasing compared to the docks that brought supplies to the island. Instead of some shabby looking warehouses the visitor dock had an extravagant pier that led to a monorail station. Poles stood at the edge of the pier flying flags with the park's logo which were fluttering in the wind like the wings of a butterfly. On the roof of the monorail stood the words **Welcome to Prehistoric Park**. He looked around for the boat that would be bringing the guests. Fog still clung to the volcanic ridge that shielded the islands from the outside world like an ethereal limpet. It was almost impossible to see the boat coming thanks to that fog; it had been getting thicker as the summer had started to dissipate. Suddenly the fog parted and a bright white boat emerged before coming into port at the side of the pier. A walkway dropped down from the front of the boat and a stream of people assembled down the walkway.

"Jord!" an excited voice yelled.

He felt something slam into his lower body which sent the wind right out of him. It was as if he had been hit by the Megaloceros again. A brunette head with shiny blue eyes stared up at him.

"Uncle Jordan!" his niece Dani yelled.

Amy with her bags in hand came up and kissed him on the cheek. She waved and another figure came up to him with some more bags in his arms.

"Awright tosser?" his sister's fiancé asked laughing maliciously.

"Shaun you've known me for eight years why do you still call me that?" he spat back.

"A laugh really," Shaun replied nonplussed. Apparently his continuing work with prehistoric giants, monstrous theropods and whale eating sharks still was a pointless job in the eyes of Shaun. Of course to the self-righteous, pretentious Shaun who knew everything and if you disagreed with him you obviously had just had a lobotomy being a keeper at _'a poncy leftie park with monsters'_ wasn't a real job. As apparently if you work in the tropics your job is just a glorified holiday!

"So Jord where's this Maria?" Amy asked eagerly.

"I'm sure you'll meet her soon. Especially as I'm giving you a tour of the park for today and tomorrow. We need to get on the monorail though; you'll have a quick tour and settle into the hotel on Nublar then we can start."

They stepped into the monorail with all their bags. Surprisingly there were only a few groups of people who had arrived at the park. It was all a part of Hammond's and Nigel's plan to keep the animals safe. With almost all of them roaming the planet before humans came along to watch them they assumed that they would get stressed from too many people in the park at the same time. It made sense. Wouldn't any animal from a primeval world be stressed from a bombardment of strange sounds and smells from the strange two legged creatures? Needless to say most people thought this was reasonable.

"So what's this talk about?" Amy asked as a few more people stepped into the monorail.

"Oh nothing much. Just what the purpose of the park is, what to do in an emergency like if an animal escapes."

"Don' need that," Shaun laughed "Just give them a good punch and they'll see not to mess with me!"

He grabbed Dani and started tickling her neck making her give a high pitched squeal of delight. Jordan shook his head.

"Shaun Tyrannosaurus had some of the strongest bites in history and had thick enough skin and bones to resist those bites. Do you really think your punch would do anything?"

Shaun started mumbling something and Amy placed her hand over her mouth to conceal a grin. Although she disapproved of her fiancé and her brother arguing she liked it when he actually stood up for himself. With a slight hiss the monorail set off towards the centre of the island. A voice started to speak in English (each monorail carriage had a different language): **There is something missing from our world. The amazing animals that time has left behind. But what if extinction doesn't have to be forever? You will now set off on a safari with a difference which will take you to the dawn of animal life to the Ice Age. Your first stop though will be Wyoming 155 million years ago in the Late Jurassic.**

"Mummy look!" Dani yelled excitedly.

The monorail had stopped miles in the air above the ground; firmly resting on a metallic railway. Below them was a giant plain full of ferns, horsetails and a small forest of monkey puzzle and conifer trees. Only the sound of deep rumbles could be heard and what could be seen included the some largest animals to make the earth quake. A screen in front of them flashed images of the animals before them explaining what they were. There was the behemoth grey Diplodocus with the whip like tail, the scaly giraffe like Brachiosaurus and the thunderous green Apatosaurus. Although they were barely higher than the tallest sauropods head they did not seem not notice. In the distance near the edge of the forest Jordan noticed the red diamond shaped plates on the back of a stegosaurus.

"Are these Brontosaurus? Wait that's not a dinosaur is it?" Amy asked in awe of the giants before her.

"Brontosaurus is a type of dinosaur again. Although the Apatosaurus right before you is what many Brontosaurus specimens were classed as," he explained.

The monorail stopped over the exhibit for a few minutes longer giving them a good look. Like ants Dryosaurus darted in between the colossus legs of the sauropods and they could see a stegosaurus dangerously shake its spiked tail side to side. With another hiss the monorail set off again and the metallic voice said: **Welcome to the ultimate wildlife sanctuary. Welcome to Prehistoric Park.**

Soon the monorail went into a decline and slowed down to a stop in front of a series of safari lodges. The largest had a set of grey stairs and had the Prehistoric Park logo emblazoned on the front above the door. Some more staff approached the guests and started ushering them to the direction of the hotel. He couldn't wait to see Dani's face of the hotel room; all were almost identical with hammocks (unless if you had a bad back or couldn't physically get in) and had a glass roof giving you a perfect view of the heavens above.

"Okay you guys will go to the hotel and because it's your first time you'll get a talk in the visitor centre. It'll take about an hour so I'll meet you by the perimeter fence," Jordan explained.

_An hour and a half later_

He kept checking his watch. Where were they? Had Shaun thrown a hissy fit that he had paid for an environmental holiday where he would see dinosaurs in their (almost) natural habitat instead of fighting to the death? God forbid as well that he doesn't get to watch the Premier league for a week. Soon his question had been answered. Dani ran up to him with her ling wavy hair tied in a ponytail with her face caked in so much sun cream that she looked like a ghost.

"Mummy wanted to get into her holiday clothes and go shopping but daddy only let her buy one thing!" she cried.

"Really? Are you excited? What do you want to see first?"

"Woolly mammoths please! Are we going to see your girlfriend Uncle Jordan?"

"We'll see chicken. She might be busy."

Soon Amy and Shaun had arrived at the menacing looking perimeter fence. It needed no explanation why it was there. It may not look pretty but it was better than waking up to see an escaped Dromaeosaurus staring down at you or going for breakfast to come face to face with the jaws of a T Rex. His sister had changed into some shorts and a black tank top with the smiling face of a pop singer on it which partially revealed her midriff and the black tattoo of a butterfly. Shaun meanwhile had changed into his blindingly white Leeds United shirt and shorts which revealed his skinny legs. Both were wearing a slightly clunky bracelet around their wrists and a headset around their necks. The headset had been around before he arrived and would talk to the guests in their native language if a tour guide speaking that language was unavailable but the bracelets were introduced only a week ago. It was Ray Arnold's idea; it had a chip inside so the sensors would recognise guests as guests and not escaped animals. The implementation of this was sped up after keepers had been called out on Isla Muerta on a short, squat man who quickly became irate and became even more so when he found out that he was mistaken for an escapee Australopithecus.

"Dani wants to see the mammoths so we'll start the tour with them. You're lucky as well because you'll get to see the cave bears before they go to hibernate." This was reciprocated by some impressed noises from Amy and Dani. They stepped through the perimeter and into the park. They passed the entrance to _Pleasant Park_, an area originally given a sarcastic name but became the de facto name of the area and was home to the park's dodos, moa and ponds full of recently extinct amphibians.

"Uncle Jordan can I go on your shoulders?" Dani asked.

"Sure you can."

The walk to the Ice Age area became more tiring with his niece happily sitting on his shoulders although soon he started to get goose bumps on his arms indicating that they were getting closer to the Ice Age. Soon the massive Ice Age plains exhibit came into view which earned respectful cries of admiration from the people present. The herd of mammoths were grasping great handfuls of grass with their trunks and tearing it from the hard earth. That was all of them except the baby Lech how was playfully running around the outside of the mammoth herd making faint trumpeting noises of excitement. A bit further up the smaller mastodon herd were too grazing with the park's males grazing side by side with the females. In the distance it was almost a blur but it was possible to see the herd of Aurochs moving from one side of the exhibit to the other; with winter on its way they were migrating to the warmer end of the exhibit where the snow wouldn't encompass.

"Okay," Jordan began pulling Dani off of his shoulders "Right in front of us is Prehistoric Park's mammoth herd led by the matriarch Martha who is there and right there you can see the new baby Lech. Mammoths went extinct through a mixture of hunting and habitat loss where forests replaced the grasslands that they grazed on and our ancestors hunted the remaining few. A bit further behind them you can see the herd of American Mastodon but their actual name is Mammut and they are led by the matriarch Kahente."

"Jordan is that a rhino?" Amy asked in disbelief.

A big rhino with shaggy brown fur ambled closer towards the mammoth herd away from the forest. Lech curiously went up to the rhino and gave a trumpet of introduction. He had to supress a laugh when the solitary rhino gave a hostile grunt which sent Lech into the loving trunk of his mother.

"Yes that is one of the Coelodonta or commonly referred to as woolly rhinos. There were four species and this species comes from Europe and lived alongside mammoths."

They stood watching the different herds for a few more minutes. He tried to last on until one of the Megaloceros could come into view but they rarely came out of the forest clearing which was difficult to see from the viewing section; guests only really saw them while on tours. When Shaun started to get moody that the mammoths weren't doing anything he moved along the tour. Luckily the cave bears were out and his guests seemed to like watching them with the general consensus that they were interesting animals. The rest of the day consisted of the rest of Isla Nublar including _Santa Cruz Plains_ where Amy fawned over the Smilodon cubs who were rolling over each other as well as them being taken aback that the Megatherium was a sloth after seeing it tear down a branch with its huge claws, then to the _Morrison Formation_ where they were in awe at being closer to the giant sauropods and Dani screamed in terror when it was feeding time at the Allosaurus exhibit.

"Look at them!" Shaun yelled in excitement. He finally had seen something enact a scene of violence on another animal, albeit that the other animal was already dead. To better replicate a hunt to keep the dinosaurs entertained a giant carcass (genetically engineered to feed an Allosaurus so no large animal like an elephant had to be dinosaur food) was attached to a silver box on wheels which was moving at speed around the exhibit. Although it was too stiff to be taken perfectly as live prey it seemed to be fine for the Allosaurus. One grey feathered theropod with long forearms and a triangular face with red bony ridges above the eyes jumped in front of the path of the carcass on the machine. It gave a low hiss like some sort of giant crocodile. The other two surrounded their prey and the one closest ran up and brought its top jaw down on what was presumably the neck with an unnerving crack. The carcass wobbled and fell of the machine with a loud thud (resulting in the machine to scurry off) which gave the Allosaurs the cue to tuck in.

"Why did you put feathers on them?" Shaun asked.

"What do you mean?"

"They're supposed to be scaly. Why the hell do they have feathers?"

"All theropod dinosaurs had feathers," Jordan replied irately "They evolved into birds. We didn't just think 'you know what would be some crackin' banter. Let's stick feathers on the dinosaur'."

To avoid further arguments Amy suggested going to the next area. He showed them _Pleasant Park _where Dani kept asking him if she could take a dodo home (he did though neglect to mention how iffy the males could be), then the Haast's Eagle aviary, the Carboniferous House which earned him some reproachful looks from Amy who detested bugs at normal size never mind the staggering size of the Meganeura and Arthropleura.

"Oh my god! Just look at it!" she cried. The shiny brown carapace of the Arthropleura sparkled in light as they listened to the many legs clack against each other. Not even seeing the giant Crassigyrinus put the image of the world's largest terrestrial arthropod out of her mind. After the Carboniferous House they went to the Pterosaur Aviary with Dani squealing in delight as they the seagull sized Dimorphodon and Rhamphorhyncus darted so close to them they could feel the wind rush above them. Luckily Saeed had come to see him and chastise Shaun who was going to feed a Dimorphodon some crisps that he had bought from a stand earlier.

_Two hours later_

"AROO! AROO!" Dani shouted. Nearby there was a loud warbling sound that went AROO. Whether or not the Parasaurolophus was responding to Dani's calls or not he thought it was unlikely. He stood hand in hand with Maria who was warmly talking to Amy. Briefly he had taken them to Isla Sorna and had met up with Maria nearby the Thylacine exhibit.

"Uncle Jordan I love them!" Dani said happily and started making the AROO sounds again. He ushered them away to go to the final exhibit for the day. He was disappointed that Amy wouldn't let him take Dani to see the Dromaeosaurs, they were normally active around dusk but she told him that she would be too tired.

"I love dolphins," Amy said to Maria "I'm sad that I didn't get to see…Bari? Bali?"

"Baiji," Maria answered smiling "Yeah they're hard to spot. We only see them when feeding and even then it takes a while with such a long river for them to live in."

He was sure that this last exhibit would impress them. He was in luck that one was already on the riverbank. It was ten metres long with big green scutes and its pointed jaw open revealing giant sparkling daggers for teeth. All the time it was making a sound that was a mixture between a rumble and a hiss.

"That's a fricking huge crocodile!" Amy cried.

"That is Deinosuchus," Jordan explained smiling "It lived in the Southern USA and Mexico 70 million years ago. It ate dinosaurs…"

_The next morning_

He felt perfectly refreshed. It had been months since he had a lie in and was bursting with energy. The Costa Rican sun gently warmed him in the early morning. There was some disappointment though that Amy hadn't woken Dani so he could show her the Dromaeosaurus. He had checked on them this morning with Quint with their beady amber eyes staring hungrily at them.

"Hey Jordan!" a cheery voice yelled. He recognised the voice but it couldn't be. The owner of the voice never overtly showed her happiness like that. He turned around to see Chiyo standing there but he was surprised at her appearance. Instead of her normal long sleeved shirts and trousers which covered everything to her ankles she was wearing a short sleeved shirt with _'Asking Alexandria' _written in big letters on it with what seemed to be the band members and she was also wearing shorts. She had also taken her bandages off; she hadn't needed them since he had arrived but wore them anyway to hide the scars on her wrists. He could see the faint white lines and got a pang of sadness. She had only recently told him what had happened: diagnosed with depression aged fourteen she had started self-harming aged fifteen and had her first suicide attempt aged sixteen. When she had confided in some friends about it they started using it to make fun of her leading to her retracting from people becoming paranoid and anthropophobic. He was glad that she had confided in him and that she hadn't done anything since they first met.

"Charlotte wants to meet you!" she said excitedly.

Charlotte was about Chiyo's age but was slightly taller, had very fair skin and long wavy hair that was loose and dropped past her shoulders. She had piercing grey eyes and a roundish face. Charlotte was wearing a black shirt saying _'Avenged Sevonfold' _on it, black trousers with cuts on the knees and multiple bracelets in addition to the new one that Prehistoric Park gave her so they knew she wasn't a raptor or cat that had escaped. When she spoke he noticed that she had a tongue-bar as well.

"Chiyo's told me all about you. Don't worry all positive!" she said. Unlike Chiyo who had a slight Yorkshire accent she had a faint Scottish one.

They started talking for a bit until Dani, Amy and Shaun came. Amy was looking tired and Dani was running up to them with apparently with a new member of her teddy collection. For dear life she had a stuffed Parasaurolophus in her arms so there must have been a trip to the gift shop the day before.

"We didn't have a wink of sleep last night," Amy croaked "Well Shaun did but missy here was too excited to sleep. I had to take her on a walk around the perimeter fence until she drifted off."

Jordan introduced Charlotte and Chiyo to his family but Chiyo went back into her timid self. Charlotte however seemed to take the new introductions in her stride so much that Dani insisted on Charlotte holding her hand. He and Chiyo decided to start the day's tour on Isla Sorna with a very specific animal in mind. The monorail started to hurtle across the narrow sea in between Nublar and Sorna just as a silvery fluked tail smashed out from the water before descending once again.

"Basilosaurus," Jordan explained to the bemused Amy "That one is Basilosaurus isis from Egypt. Egypt when it lived was mostly underwater."

Soon the monorail's blue signs read _Bahariya Beds _which gave them a cue to step off onto the platform. From where they stood they could hear the roar of the sea as it smashed against the coastline. The exhibit that he was heading them towards was one of the first there. Most of it consisted of a giant blue body of water which sparkled like diamonds in the morning sun. Skeletal mangroves with their long reaching roots could be seen darting around the water's edge.

"This exhibit is home to one of the largest predatory dinosaurs," Jordan explained "Well we have two exhibits: this one homed to Cleopatra and Rameses with their chicks and the other to Ptolemy the young male."

He looked at Amy's face which was pale with fear. He could tell that she was not feeling safe with Dani literally metres away from what is often regarded as the largest carnivorous dinosaurs. The largest carnivore that she had seen so far was the Allosaurus but they had been distracted by the food that had been laid out.

"Don't worry Amy the fencing is more than enough to keep them in," he said reassuringly.

"Who chose those names for them?" Shaun asked contemptuously.

"I did," Chiyo replied timidly "Ptolemy, Ramses and Cleopatra were Egyptian pharaohs and the Spinosaurus came from Egypt."

Dani started pointing excitedly at something near the bottom of a mangrove tree. They looked like little crocodiles except that they were covered in white fluff. The three babies were around the size of a turkey but the big question was where were the parents? The water erupted and the question was answered. A long snouted serpent with long forearms, pen shaped green feathers and a large red hump had a squirming fish in its jaws. Dani gave a small whelp and hid behind her dad's legs while Amy grabbed hold of his arms. Shaun himself looked awfully pale. Ramses dropped the fish in front of his chicks and gave a warbled roar which shook the ground.

"I give you Spinosaurus!" Jordan laughed.

A frightened Amy decided that if Dani wasn't going to have nightmares of a Spinosaurus bursting through her hotel room it was best to immediately leave. Chiyo thought it would be wise to skip the Carcharodontosaurus for now so they headed off to the somewhat safer Ice Age area on Sorna where the most dangerous things included Cave Hyenas, Dire Wolves and European Cave Lions. He sometimes didn't understand peoples reasoning. Yes a dinosaur like Mapusaurus was dangerous but there immense size meant they would not bother hunting something the size of a human unless if they wanted a quick snack when a sauropod offered a more substantial meal but to a lion humans would make more of a better meal. Dani seemed to like the Dire Wolves just as much as the Parasaurlophus and was still howling as they started to tour the rest of the park. Due to the large size of Sorna they couldn't look around all the enclosures so Jordan took them to see a few more including the Flaming Plains where they gazed avidly at the bizarre Therizinosaurus and ostrich like Gallimimus, then to giant Argentavis aviary before heading off to the monorail for lunch on Nublar and the final exhibit he wanted to show them. The monorail went round the other islands and Amy pointed Dani over excitedly to look out the window.

"Look at the size of that shark Dani," she cried. They were passing over the Megalodon tank. Even from this height the shark was giant. He thought it best not to tell Amy that it primarily ate whales. In an hour he was heading with Chiyo at the front to _Hell's Creek_.

"Oi Jordan we've seen Triceratops already!" Shaun yelled.

"We're not going to see Triceratops."

Shaun stood still. They were passing under an arch where big letters read _Tyrannosaurus Territory_. Dani hugged her toy dinosaur closer to her chest and Amy put her arm around her daughter. Charlotte was whispering franticly to Chiyo; her past viewing of the Rex must have made her anticipation even more intense. There was a set of stairs nestled in between some bushy green ferns which he gestured for them to climb. The hide was nestled among some large trees overlooking a great area full of smaller trees and giant ferns. Inside the hide itself there were a series of electric signs which flashed in different languages information on the Tyrannosaurus. Charlotte put her bottle of water that she had bought at a shop on a seat facing the rest of the exhibit.

"Where are they?" Shaun asked. There wasn't cockiness in his voice now but rather trepidation. The water inside Charlotte's bottle rippled. It was as if there was an earthquake shaking the water. There was another ripple, and another, and another.

"One's coming," Chiyo said.

There was a thud and a large green scaled head with a mouth full of teeth parted the trees. A pair of evil amber eyes followed it then a thick neck covered in black feathers, then a muscly black feathered body with two small forearms with long feathers coming from it. The Tyrannosaurus gave a low rumble and started sniffing the air.

"This one is Cronus," Chiyo whispered "He's one of the young males."

"Young?" Amy asked franticly "You mean they get bigger?"

Cronus was already larger than an elephant and the prospect of him growing bigger didn't seem to be a nice prospect for Amy. There was another loud thud as he stepped out from the trees which made Dani hide behind her dad again.

"Daddy he's humongous!" she whispered.

In the distance they heard a faint bellow but it seemed that Cronus heard it too. He turned to the direction of the roar and gave a roar which sounded like a series of explosions. They had to put their hands over their ears as a vain attempt to block out the sound.

"That was amazing!" Amy said as they descended the steps "Oh my Christ I've never been so scared and excited at once."

Even Shaun did not seem to complain about the Tyrannosaurus being feathery and not scaly.

"I have to work tomorrow so I can't give you a tour," Jordan said "There's still loads to see like the Gastornis, Argentinosaurus, Hyneria, Australopithecus and the Underwater Walkways where you can see the sea creatures and the boat trip. You might want to check the Gyrospheres although don't go near the Triceratops or Torosaurus; they don't like them very much."

As the rest walked away with Chiyo explaining where to go for each thing over the next few days Charlotte held back to talk to him.

"Jordan thank you. I'm happy that you've made friends with Chiyo. She hasn't hurt herself since meeting you. She really values your friendship and I'm glad for it. Thanks."

She then kissed him on his cheek and ran off to join the rest. 


	7. Goodbyes

Goodbyes

Bright blue light peaked through the Plexiglas walkway which created a pleasant rippling effect on the carpeted floor. It seemed that the walkway was suspended by its own means but through his time working here he knew that it was attached to the transparent sea tank wall. Charlotte looked around in amazement at the wonder of engineering presented by the walkway. He had found that other than to celebrate Chiyo's birthday Charlotte's university had sent her for 'practical experience' which included tailing the Deputy Head Keepers. The black under her eyes indicated that she was not coping with a night's worth of drinking and an accompanying early morning. The only more volatile combination could be a tonne of pure potassium and a gallon of water.

"Did I make a right tit of myself last night?" she asked tepidly in her slight Scottish accent.

"A bit," he laughed which made her groan. With Chiyo not drinking Charlotte had taken it upon herself to drink Chiyo's share of the alcohol available. What resulted was her spending the night hugging Quint for being Chiyo's friend and trying to ring her favourite pizza delivery in Edinburgh to deliver to Prehistoric Park.

"It must have been a good pizza place for you to want one from here!"

"They're the best," she replied "Me and Chiyo used to get one every Saturday. My Christ my head hurts! Please say we're not going near any form of hadrosaur today!"

They continued further up ahead. The early morning sun casted its bright rays easily through the clear waves of the sea illuminating the walkway a very bright blue colour. Up ahead there was some elevated seats with a rabble of people happily and eagerly chatting away in varying accents of English although quite a few had the headphones which spoke in different languages hanging on their shoulders. As it was Halloween a few of the children were dressed up as an assortment of ghouls, mummies and other demons of the night. Dani saw him and started to wave at him. It was the final day of her holiday; in just a few hours they would be getting back on the boat to the mainland and away from the primeval world of Prehistoric Park and the amazing memories it had for them. Yesterday though Amy had a memory which she would rather have forgotten.

_Yesterday_

"What did you get Chiyo for her birthday?" Saeed asked him as he unlocked the door. They wobbled slightly as the waves lapped softly against the plastic walkway which led to the door. To be more environmental the park architects had attached some rafts together to lead to the staff centre of the exhibit. Most likely to avoid disturbing what lived in the water below.

"Some Marvel comics and Maria got her this CD from a band that she likes. You know the one where the singers scream all the time," he replied "You?"

"Got her this shirt with some superheroes on it," Saeed said smiling "Didn't stop hugging me for a few minutes. Sweet girl she is."

The room smelt heavily of salt water. No water could get in but it definitely did nothing to hinder the overpowering smell of the saline water. Jordan was always amazed by the exhibit design of Prehistoric Park. They had copied Hagenbeck Zoo where most of the barriers to the exhibit were natural barriers and any actual fencing was tactfully hidden. Saeed had told him though that originally there had been a few bits of fencing where Bob hadn't managed to construct a natural barrier or where fences were needed for using the transport vehicles. Staff knew not to do anything stupid near the barriers but it was decided that guests couldn't be trusted and in some places actual barriers put up. This was a prime exhibit exemplifying this. There was a slight cliff face which dropped into the exhibit which was full of mangroves submerged in tranquil blue water while the rest was a golden beach. Out of sight was a series of submerged rocks which stopped the denizen within from making a bid for freedom via the Isla Sornan sea. Added on somewhat painfully obvious was glass panels spanning the ridge of the rocky cliff.

"Can you see the bugger?" Saeed asked rubbing his short wiry beard "Come to scare me out of my skin again? Where are you?"

"Come on the quicker we get out some food the lower the chance that you'll have to get back into your skin!" Jordan replied.

"Cheeky bugger. While you head-butt deer a giant snake always seems too eager to get me." The smiled on his face showed that he was joking. Feeding the serpentine denizen was a simple affair. To remotely resemble an appealing, realistic meal they simply had to attach a sheep sized carcass to a cuboid metal machine with a motor locked inside. In practice this machine would make the carcass go around the water aimlessly until the hunter attacked and the shock would disentangle the machine from the carcass. It also happened to be more humane than live prey. They attached the machine to the carcass as Saeed opened a hatch (with apparent trepidation) which they forced the 'animal' through. As it splashed into the water they could see it spin off over the clear water sending white flecks as it went.

"Isn't that your sister and that the person who thought pterosaurs enjoyed junk food?" Saeed asked. He looked up and saw Amy standing hand in hand with Dani pointing at the floating carcass as Shaun was poking something in his hand.

"Fancy saying hi. We don't need to see the Asiatosuchus germanicus for a bit," Saeed said.

He nodded and they went up to see his relatives. Dani was kneeling down eagerly looking through the glass panes which stood over two metres high easily. Shaun was busy on his phone and Amy was standing a bit further back with a face contorted with fear. He could see why. She was scared of snakes and a nearby sign read _Gigantophis garstini_. A snake over 10 metres long would not help her phobia any further.

"Hi Jord," she said warily "Who wanted to stop _this _thing from being extinct!"

She gave a small yelp as from behind one of the mangroves in the warm water a long, serpentine black and green shape emerged. It moved following a pointed head in an S motion through the clear water. Like a child Shaun lent on the glass panel and started banging on the glass. Jordan started to stop him but something stopped him; snakes often hunted through vibrations but surely it couldn't sense the idiot's banging of the glass. This proved to be a bad judgement. The water exploded and with an audible clang against the transparent glass the Gigantophis tried to seize Shaun. Amy shrieked and swore loudly which made Dani shout: _'Mummy said a naughty word!'_.

"You bastard! You bastard!" she yelled hitting Shaun's arm "You knew it would do that."

"Soz Amy. We had the glass it couldn't do anything," he laughed.

"Sir please you were told on arrival not to disturb the animals," Saeed warned him.

"It was just a laugh. Aw shit I dropped my phone. Aw it's all smashed!" he moaned as his phone had a large crack on it like a spider's web. There was at least some justice.

_Now_

One of the tour guides holding a microphone stood in front of the crowd. He recognised her as Chantelle Antióne from Cote d'ivoire, even through her green makeup which made her look like a reptilian swamp monster, as she tapped her microphone. She spoke in a very noticeable French accent.

"Welcome everyone to _Megalodon Currents_! I hope you've had a nice day. Look here's our Megalodon keepers ready for today!"

Jordan saw two people in scuba suits jump into the water from the safety of the yacht. They were braver men than he was as they went in without the shark cage; saying that the four Megalodon keepers were the biggest men and women that he had ever seen with nerves of iron. He heard Charlotte say something that his mother would have slapped him for saying (one of the words rhyming with 'clucking'). If he hadn't known about Megalodon behaviour he would have agreed with her but nevertheless he could never get in the water unprotected with the giant shark.

"Megalodon could grow up to 17 metres long and lived all across the world's oceans from 23 to 2 million years ago. Ours comes from the Pacific Ocean at that time. Oh look the keepers are putting in the pulse emitter; sharks are attracted by electromagnetic waves and this device picks them up. Megalodon in the wild hunted whales and they can also be attracted by whale song but we don't want to make a hungry one come!"

There was a large gasp from the audience and Charlotte. From the murky black abyss came a giant shark over twice the length of a great white. The great shark had a small cleft under the mighty bottom jaw, had a body perfectly streamlined like a torpedo and whose top half was completely black. He found people's assumption that the Megalodon was simply a large great white strange. Although he assumed that must simply be people wanting to fit some sort of familiarity with a primeval creature. The shark swam slowly up to the keepers with her fins shifted backwards as far as they could go.

"This is Lamia the park's female. She is forty years old and has been able to have pups for ten years. Megalodon can mate at thirty years and can live to be 90! Look she's swimming slowly with her fins backwards. That means she is friendly. Sharks have personalities just like us but Lamia is a bit of a touchy shark" He could definitely agree with that. "She only likes her keepers. If she was swimming quickly with her fins forward that means she's angry. Megalodon swim in the dark waters and their streamlined bodies let them blast upwards ramming a whale for them to eat. They are skittish though; a whale can easily injure a shark so they have to be careful!"

"Watch this," he whispered to Charlotte who still looked groggy from her hangover.

The keepers left the sea and onto the safety of the boat. Lamia started to submerge back into the dark depths of the water. There was a large splash coming from the boat and a huge chunk of meat bobbed over the surface. On cue the audience gave a cry that was a mixture of wonder and consternation as like a large black bullet Lamia sped towards the surface. She slammed into the carcass sending a wave of blood across the formerly placid surface. Her eyes went white as she swallowed part of the carcass.

"Everyone give a hand to Lamia!"

The excited crowd started to dissipate and Dani ran over to hug Jordan. Amy kissed him on the cheek.

"I'm going to miss you. When I get back we'll Skype," she said with her eyes welling up "Thanks so much for getting us tickets. Dani's loved it so much. Give my love to Maria. And you." She turned and hugged Charlotte. "It's been a pleasure meeting you and give my love to Chiyo."

Shaun nodded his head in Jordan's direction and gave a slight grin in Charlotte's direction. He hugged Dani just before her parents picked her up. He didn't know when he would next see his family. With some regret he joined Charlotte in doing that days' worth of jobs. Compared to the excitement that they had with the largest shark in existence the day was relatively relaxed. After emerging from the walkway they rubbed the brightness of the sun from their eyes. One bad thing about the underwater walkways was the fact that your eyes never accustomed quickly to the change in light. The cool waves protected your eyes from the harsh beams so on the land it hit you hard.

"Where to first?" Charlotte asked.

First stop happened to be the Liliensternus. Charlotte wanted to stay longer to watch the early dinosaurs tear apart the meal that they had given them but if they were going to get their jobs done it meant that watching the Liliensternus would have to wait until another day. Their roaring caused Charlotte to cringe each time; it must have been like being knocked over the head with a hammer each time the dinosaurs roared when you had a hangover. Luckily for her the next stop didn't involve loud noises. It was hard to be loud underwater.

"Those sea scorpions best be as quiet as land ones!" Charlotte grimaced as they opened the staff door to the _Aquarium_. Their feet created metallic clangs as they thundered up the stairs to the storage room. Inside were a variety of mobs, buckets and cleaning products for janitors to use in the human section of the building but he headed straight for the refrigerator door which shone dull silver in the low light. A refreshing wave of cold swept over them as he opened the door. Inside they took chilled buckets full of fish and molluscs for the aquatic inhabitants.

"For the ones that we're feeding today you have to fill fish in these," he told Charlotte gesturing to something that looked like a crudely made plaster cast fish. He didn't envy Charlotte filling the baits full of fish. It was overpowering already without a banging headache to boot. With Charlotte looking distinctly green he ushered her up another set of metallic steps. Blue light scattered above them on the roof cast by the water of the tanks below them.

"This one," he said.

Charlotte lent on the railing to see the resident. Crawling over a rock was a black scorpion like creature but instead of a formidable stinger it had what seemed to be a paddle for a tail. Another one was slowly moving across white sand creating lines as it went. Although not the largest arthropod present in Prehistoric Park the Pterygotus were still titans. Jordan picked up one of the plaster cast fish and dropped it with an audible splosh into the tank. It sank to the bottom of the tank but was quickly smashed in half by one mighty claw. Copying Jordan Charlotte dropped another into the water and the other duly smashed it in half. Soon the scorpions had broken open all of the plaster cast fish.

"Just one more thing to feed in here," he said. They descended back down the stairs and they grabbed a dead feathered chicken as well as some passion fruit from the refrigerator. Jordan took them deeper into the _Aquarium_, so far in fact that the light had changed from a light blue to a light green. In the water below instead of a large armoured sea scorpion was a shoal of sparkling Megapiranha. He dropped the chicken into the water and half the shoal vanished in a swirling vortex of bubbles. They dropped the fruit into the water which caused the rest to swirl around the fruit. Quickly the feeding frenzies had ended with no sign of the fruit being present but the unfortunate chicken had been reduced to a series of white bones.

"You hungry?" he asked. It was well past noon and they had been up for hours. Even before they had said bye to Amy and Dani in the shark walkway they had been up seeing to the Haast's eagle, Nothosaurus and Huia. He thought that she had done very well, especially after the male Haast's eagle had swooped down and almost took her head off.

"Starvin'" she replied eagerly.

They traipsed off the office where the Head and Deputy Head Keepers kept their items during the day. Grabbing their lunches they headed off to the nearest benches (happening to be the ones nearest to the Visitor's Entrance) and sat down in the cool shade. It had turned into a glorious day with the sun happily high in the sky devoid of dark clouds with the cool mists of Isla Nublar cooling them down. A large model skeleton of a Tyrannosaurus beamed toothily down at them with the long jaws of a Spinosaurus just opposite the King of the Dinosaurs where the two acted as formidable entrance to Main Street. They had been caked in cobwebs and spiders with today being Halloween. Past the model skeletons were the multitudes of hotels, restaurants, shops and the museum holding actual fossils of the park residents.

"Chiyo loves your present," she said "She said that she would make my lunch for me today but she only made half of it because she was too busy reading! That book the two brothers gave her must have been expensive though. I can't believe they actually knew Tolkien!"

He nodded in agreement. The brothers obviously meant the elusive Green Stripe and Cicada; the two mysterious co-founders of the park with Hammond. Nigel had told him last night that they (seemingly) didn't have any children and had some sort of grandfatherly affection for Chiyo who viewed them in turn as doting grandfathers. For her 21st birthday the day before they had given her a red leather bound edition of _The Lord of the Rings _signed by the author himself with an apologetic note that they couldn't be there to celebrate with her.

"Chiyo loves them to pieces. It's amazing that right now my brother is dressing up as a vampire to go Trick or Treatin'. You can't tell in this sun!"

A flustered Nigel popped around the corner but his attire caused them to burst out in laughter. He was dressed as a vampire with his face painted white with red coming from the edge of his lips to simulate blood. Apparently being dressed as a vampire in the middle of the day when the Costa Rican sun as at its highest was not something very comfortable.

"Boy is this costume boiling!" he panted. Jordan could see some of his white makeup running down his face as he sat down. "Chiyo has found this hilarious; she's been calling me Bela Lugosi all day! It's been hectic today trying to organise everything for tonight!"

He had heard about the night's affairs. It included the park staff organising a monster themed party for children around Main Street, a ghost walk for older guests where people would tell tales of the island's gory past and some of the Neanderthals were going to treat some guests to horror stories told between tribe members. If they were in the right area the guests were also allowed to personally witness a Dromaeosaurus hunt at midnight. A few staff members had even been roped into dressing up to jump out and scare people on the ghost walk. Although he hated them he had chosen to go watch horror movies with Chiyo and Charlotte over dressing up.

"Bob's got his werewolf costume for tonight," Nigel laughed "Oh no…"

There was a high pitched scream and a gaggle of people ran to the Visitor's Entrance around the corner. He noticed a few non-keeper staff members among them who were dressed as various monsters. In the various staff offices was a board saying when famous people would be arriving at the park. Two days ago a new name had appeared in the boards: the famous pop-star Zach White.

"I hate it when people like that come," Nigel uncharacteristically sighed "So far when they've come they've expected to be treated extra special like to pet the animals or something like that. Wait I shouldn't say that he could be different…"

Judging how he swaggered into view with him gesturing to his admirers Jordan had a feeling that Nigel's initial bias could very well be justified. He had flyaway bleach blonde hair with a red pork pie hat, a white shirt with half the buttons undone, his signature butterfly tattoo on his forearm on show and his hands slightly wedged into his too tight jean pockets. Some of his entourage wearing similar outfits followed after him. One of the park staff whose job was to give guests the introductory talk hastily followed him.

"Sir I need to ask you to follow me. We have an introductory talk where we…"

"I don't need no talk," he laughed in a way that made Jordan want to personally introduce him to Lamia while he was covered in whale fat and emitting whale songs "What's there to talk about? I got me my fans and I'm gonna take a few selfies for Instagram. How about one with me and a big T Rex just chillin'?"

Nigel sighed. He could tell that Nigel much preferred his managerial role before when the most pressing issue was how to save animals from extinction. Now he was stuck between a rock and a hard place. He needed people like Zach White to endorse the park so they could keep it open and eventually release some of the residents back into the wild. Without endorsement from some people who thought that the sun revolved around themselves many people who would have been less than willing to come to Prehistoric Park would be convinced. Yes many people would come because they had extinct animals or that people like David Attenborough and paleontologists like Robert Bakker liked the park but it would mean nothing to people who thought that a singer was more important than stopping extinction itself. People like Zach Write could be seen as a necessary evil.

"Cicada once said something very wise to me about someone similar to him," Nigel said "'Narcissism will elevate someone to greatness but leaves dismay in its wake'. I have a feeling that he'll be right again."

_The Next Morning_

He walked through the early morning fog to the Deputy Head Keeper's Office with Maria, Chiyo and Charlotte.

"I'll be with the Microraptors for most of today so I might not see you," she said to Charlotte. She gave her a quick kiss on the cheek before leaving for the small feathered dinosaurs. The others pushed open the door to see Bob and Winston chuckling with delight. Someone had setup the projector to show a blown up picture of Bob where he had brown fur stuck haphazardly across his body with fake fangs lodged into his teeth.

"I've seen to have made Winston howl with laughter," Bob joked as Conor, Zhun, Saeed and Mary arrived. "Okay now here's who you are with today."

He smiled as he found out that he had been paired with Maria to generally see to the park's inhabitants. The first job for the day would be to attend to _Messel Forest _which was home to some of the strange animals from Eocene Germany. They crossed a wooden bridge into a pleasant tropical area where the sun was peeking through the thick branches of the trees casting light shadows on the soft earth. The exhibit nearest to them was easy to see that it had been designed initially for solely realism for the animal but had been retrofitted for public safety. It had a deep moat to stop the inhabitant from getting across but large panels had been added to stop members of the public falling in. Most likely the staff fencing was around the back. A groggy Gastornis with her massive beak stared at them, half shielded in the shade of an orchid tree.

"We're putting food out at _Messel Shrub_," Maria said chirpily. She was always a morning person. _Messel Shrub _was an exhibit holding some of the most bizarre animals that he had ever seen. Like with the Gastornis exhibit it had panels surrounding a moat but this one was far smaller and shallower compared to the other moat. There were far more trees in this exhibit and in the early morning he could not see the small inhabitants running around thanks to the shadows casted by the thick trees. Maria guided him to a small white building attached to the side of the exhibit. Upon entering there was a small door leading to inside the enclosure as well as a large metal table.

"All of them or just a few?" he asked. This exhibit was home to numerous animals with a variety of feeding habits.

"All of them. I love these guys so much. I could never imagine anything cuter," she replied. He decided to bite back saying that she had said the exact same thing about the Smilodon cubs. He took some fruit from the cupboard and started dicing it into more sizeable chunks as Maria reached into the adjacent fridge to lay dead frogs and lizards on the table. It was amazing that InGen could grow already dead things in their labs; must be more economical than shipping in tonnes upon tonnes of dead animals for the ravenous appetites of the carnivores.

"Ready?" he asked. She nodded and he opened the door to the exhibit. It was much more humid in the exhibit than inside the small building. There were a few platforms nailed to the trunks of the occasional tree which he placed liberal amounts of the diced fruit onto. A few branches of grapes though he scattered on the floor as Maria did the same with some meal worms and the dead reptiles and amphibians. There was a small chattering sound and he saw a black lemur like primate with a striped black and white tail scurry down from the tree to start eating the fruit.

"Hello girl," he said to the Darwinius. The primate looked at him with great amber eyes before continuing with her meal. When they had dried up their supply of food he and Maria headed back for the staff building. He had to swerve though to avoid a shrew like Lepticdidium which had hopped into his path.

"What's our next stop?" he asked placing his hand softly into hers.

"_Purussaurus Floodplain_. We have to check the pH of the water," she replied smiling "Nigel has a love of crocodiles so whenever he went on a mission some of us keepers would make bets whether he would bring one back or not. Caused a big argument between Jon Isia and me because he kept on saying that Crassigyrinus was basically an amphibian crocodile."

"Did you win the argument?" he asked.

"Yeah," she said nonchalantly "We asked Nigel's opinion and he sided with me. Jon left a few weeks later; had a nasty run-in with Ivan the Caspian Tiger. He was fine but his pride dinted a bit."

They jumped onto the monorail. Lazily he rested his head on Maria's shoulders and let her long chestnut hair rest on his cheek. She sighed happily and stared out of the window. It would take some time for the monorail to get to where the Purussaurus swam. Although it was partially obscured by Maria's silky hair he could see some of the exhibits dart below; the open plain cum aviary that housed the Europasaurus and extraordinary Archaeopteryx, a massive fern plain where he saw a giant Iguanodon look curiously at one of the trucks giving guests a tour of a lifetime (Gyrospheres only could hold a few people so the park had vehicular tours as well), then they passed over a blue sea where he could see the long graceful neck of an Elasmosaurus pierce the clear water. It dawned on him that only six months ago he had been hard broken, unemployed and living with his sister; now he was with someone who he loved dearly, was in the greatest job in the world with the greatest people that he could ever be friends with. Prehistoric Park didn't only save animals; it had saved him.

"Wake up daydreamer!" she laughed. They got up and headed towards _La Pampa Plains_ on Isla Muerta. There was no direct monorail route to the Purussaurus exhibit so they would have to go through the _Plains _to get to the monster caimans. His heart dropped though. The exhibit to the giant terror birds the Kelenken (a steep drop in the earth to the open plains where the ridge was protected by fencing) but there was Zach West and his egotistical entourage gawking at the birds within.

"They're not so scary," he heard Zach yell with the one cue laughs from his cronies "Just an ostrich!"

Bob and Charlotte came walking up to them with a look of dismay on Bob's portly face at the sight of Zach. He could understand why. He had heard that last night Bob had to stop Zach from yelling at the Dire Wolves for 'not doin' anything', something which he did unsuccessfully dressed as the Wolfman.

"How ya' doin' you two?" he asked "I think soon…What the hell is he doing?"

Zach had started to climb up the fence and before anyone could do anything he was over one side. He effortlessly jumped into the enclosure and in triumph held his arms above his head gesturing to his adoring gaggle of followers. He went further into the exhibit through the long grass to where the Kelenken were. Instantly the keepers ran to the adjacent staff house and grabbed some whistles before running through the long grass themselves (Charlotte being forced to stay inside due to not being qualified). Zach was getting closer to the terror birds who stood staring at them with their beady eyes.

"Look they're even running away from me!" he yelled.

Three of the Kelenken ran around the side but they weren't running away. One went behind him, one to the left and one to the right. Jordan could see the one still in front of Zach was vibrating its throat; it was giving orders to kill. The one on Zach's right suddenly darted towards him and brought his massive head down. If Zach hadn't jumped out of the way in time the Kelenken could have smashed his skull in two. Instead he escaped with a nasty gash on his arm. The other three started to stalk closer and closer towards him. Quickly Bob placed his whistle to his lips and blew. No sound came out but the Kelenken darted their long necks upwards startled. The others copied and in a frenzy of irate low squawks the Kelenken ran off. With half his arm smeared in his own blood Zach sheepishly approached them.

"I…it almos…t kill…killed me!" he whimpered.

"Of course!" Bob yelled in anger "It's a bloody carnivore! They are hunters!"

Dr Paulson soon arrived on the scene closing the wound. Luckily the Kelenken had only grazed him or otherwise he would have needed far more than a few stitches. Jordan was personally surprised that the terror bird had broken Zach's arm judging by the way they hunt.

"I want him out of my park!" an angry voice yelled in a broad Scottish accent.

He was surprised to see that Hammond in all white shirt, shoes and trousers had been the origin of this outburst. Waving his walking stick in the air and with him being red in the face Jordan couldn't help but notice how much he resembled an angry Deinotherium.

"He's abused staff, disturbed the Dire Wolves and now he's even disturbed the Kelenken," his demeanour then changed when he saw Bob, Jordan and Maria "I am so glad you three were there. You've stopped a possible PR disaster!"

Ushering up a feeble smile he thanked them and started to walk off. He dropped his walking stick and grabbed his left arm. Hammond fell to the floor.

"John! John!" Dr Paulson yelled "Get me my things quickly he's had a heart attack!"


	8. After the Funeral

**Note: I was talking with DaDog and to alleviate pressure on DaDog I've decided to come back only to do A Keeper's Story. I'm not making a comeback to do stories; I'm just doing A Keepr's Story and then I'm leaving again. I've found out some new research which I am also putting in this story which I've gone over with DaDog for continuity. However I will stop if I get threatened again. Also I'm going to put excerpts from the Prehistoric Park website on this story as well. Well I hope you enjoy.**

After the Funeral

He had never been good at funerals. He never knew what to do, what to say, how to act. Hammond had been cremated a week ago but on Isla Nublar they performing a ceremony. The rest area near Main Street had been turned into a memorial service for the great man. All around him was a sea of red eyes and black clothes. Maria sat on his left holding his hand while on his right Chiyo was hugging herself, shaking slightly as if there was a slight chill in the air. It had been especially hard on her. Hammond had been like a grandfather to her and his loss had created a massive hole in her life. Then her therapist had dropped the amount of medication that she had to take for her depression, then Charlotte had to return to the UK and then her cat which she had since she was eight had passed away. The last few weeks had hit her very hard.

"I knew John Hammond close to twenty years," a soft voice spoke from a hastily erected podium. His eyes were stinging that badly from holding back the tears he hadn't noticed Simon Masrani stand up to speak. "It was at his nature reserve in Kenya…"

People were sniffling like it had become essential to life while others were choking on their own sobs. He never thought he would feel so emotional at his the funeral of his boss. Hammond was more than that though. He was always pottering about the park checking that everyone was happy, asking how their day was, even seeing if he could help them with their jobs. He would attend each union meeting to personally see that people's grievances were attended to; he would go to his staff on their birthday to give them a gift. He was more than an employer; he was family.

A wide range of staff members had come to the memorial ranging from keepers to the Heads of Staff to cleaners in the hotels. He saw the Operations Manager Claire Dearing dabbing her eyes next to Owen Grady who was looking forlorn. Hammond's grandchildren Lex and Tim were sitting front row looking distraught. In Hammond's will he had given them joint ownership of his stock in InGen, and by default ownership of the park, but until Tim turned 21 Simon Masrani would hold his stock for him. Next to them clad in black gothic trench coats and jet covered helmets vaguely resembling motorcycle helmets were 'The Brothers'. One had a series of vertical green glyphs in a language he did not recognise on the helmet while the other had a white cicada. Ironically they were called Green Stripe and Cicada. They struck him as rather foreboding but Chiyo seemed to get along very well with them. Green Stripe had done a speech earlier in his soft, quiet voice but it was a voice that everyone would have been silent to listen to if there had been a rabble.

"Before me I see waves of lamentation," he had spoken softly "Lamentation over a close friend, father, grandfather and employer. I now ask you would John want to see this grief? By your presence here there is a strong implication that John meant so much in your life that nothing can fill it. Undoubtedly John felt the same way towards you. We may grieve for his passing but do not let that grief cloud your memories of him. Remember him not as a larger than life figure no sadly departed but as the optimistic, extravagant man that touched our very souls…"

His speech had gone on for a few minutes but it had a resounding effect on the audience. Not once had the crowd wept or sniffled in sadness; he even saw a few smiles during the speech. When it was over there was a huge applause as if he had just one a great prize. He noticed Cicada stand up and shake Simon Masrani's hand as they swapped places on the podium. It appeared that there was a difference between the brothers other than the insignias on their helmets. Where Green Stripe stood rigid and proud Cicada seemed to be more solemn in his stance. Even their voices were drastically different. Green Stripe was soft and the words lovingly rolled off his tongue while Cicada's voice was still quiet but sharper and quicker.

"I have not the same oratory skills as my brother so I shall apologise in advance." This garnered a few laughs and even a smile from the audience. "I could very easily stand here and commemorate the past dealings that I have partaken in with John or use an endless amount of adjectives to create a personality cult revolving around John. I shall not do that. I only require your eyes and some pragmatics. Around you there are multiple trees, orchids and other plant life. Merely thirty years ago no plant life grew in the soil. Macaws, gulls and finches fly above our heads while geckos and skinks dart from beneath our feet. Twenty five years ago upon these islands the only animal life consisted of the stray sea bird. If you walk down this very path ahead you will see a marsupial that died out 65 million years ago. Just last year a cure for cholera was announced from the labs behind us which has now saved over one hundred lives. In those very labs the AIDs virus, Ebola, tuberculosis and malaria are creeping closer towards extinction. Across the world synthesised meats and crops are feeding hundreds who had nothing to eat before InGen used modified 3D Printers to produce food. Now the Hammond Trust is building schools, sewage systems and hospitals in needy communities across the globe. Three months ago the Eastern Cougar was released back into the wild and the Hammond Wildlife Fund had prevented the extinction of countless more lifeforms that just ten years ago were merely individuals away from extinction. That I feel is all I need to show our friend's legacy."

Jordan found himself clapping along with multiple other people. He could not help but find himself warming to the two once mysterious figures. Nigel shook Cicada's hand and stood up by the podium. He wondered what Nigel was doing. He had already given a very heart felt speech.

"John made Prehistoric Park come into existence," Nigel explained "We felt that he should have something eternal to preserve what he had allowed us to do here."

He gestured to a purple canvas behind him. With one great pull the canvas slipped away revealing John Hammond captured in bronze. His sparkling gaze, his Father Christmas like beard parted in a smile and his amber adorned walking stick grasped by his wrinkled hand. A fanged Smilodon sitting on its haunches and a fluttering Microraptor looked up at him with gratitude on their bronze faces. A plaque read: _Extinction doesn't have to be forever._

There was a round of clapping before people started to stand to go on with their roles. He gently put his hand on Chiyo's shoulder.

"Are you going to be alright?" he asked quietly "Do you have someone to go with you?"

"Yeah. Green Stripe and Cicada said they'll spend the day with me in my office."

He nodded and stood up. Sometimes he forgot that Chiyo had an office. Quite often she would take her laptop and files to do work in the accompaniment of the animals. From what he knew it was in the Control Building with the other Head of Staff offices (bar Nigel and Bob) but he had never been in there. With her mental depression and how life had gotten so hard recently one of her friends had to stay with her to make sure she didn't try anything. He and Maria walked off holding hands. The sun was almost mocking them; it had been such a sad day but the sun had decided to make the weather perfect. It was mid-November the sun shouldn't be this good! Leaves of the deciduous trees were falling constantly turning the land golden-brown. Microraptors were busy foraging through the undergrowth for grubs now concealed by dead leaves while the Yutyrannus were rubbing themselves on trees to shed their summer coat. Xuan the female Yutyrannus was currently half green-brown as a rich forest and half pale white as winter snow. He had always wanted to see dinosaurs in snow and now was his chance. Part of him wished that all the dinosaurs lived in areas where it snowed; it would be a sight to see a Baryonyx trying to fish in a frozen lake.

"I need to go to my rounds," Maria said with her voice croaking with sadness. He could not begin to imagine how hard it was for her. Having lost a grandfather at an early age John had filled that role. He hugged her and gave her a kiss before going on his way. Being on night duty he had the whole day off.

On a whim he decided to go to the Main Street. Instantly a wave of noise from the tourists hit him. Little children ran eagerly shouting in a multitude of languages which prehistoric creature they wanted to see first, parents squabbled about whether showing their kids a fully grown Tyrannosaurus would leave them with either wonderful memories or nightmares for a month, students sat chatting about how impressive the day was while sipping ice cold drinks and wildlife enthusiasts eagerly snapped photos of the extremely rare black-throated blue robins introduced to the islands pecking at the earth.

"Why do they all have stuff on them? Dinosaurs are supposed to be scaly!" he heard a mother with a shrill voice yell.

That was one of the biggest surprises from Prehistoric Park. The public still found it hard to believe that dinosaurs had feathers and/or bristles. He had read about the Tianyulong and Kuliandadromeus before he arrived which had shown evidence that all dinosaurs (including herbivores) had some level of feathers/bristles. He had at first expected to see a Parasaurolophus covered head to toe in bird-of-paradise feathers but found out they only had some bristles similar to what ceratopsians had on the back and stomach. On sauropods they were so fine you had to get up very close to see them with the only exception being on males who grew long bristles which stood out on the neck at mating time to attract females. It seems despite being open for around a year the public hadn't grasped that Hollywood isn't a reliable source on paleontology. Then there were other things that the public were disappointed on. People had come expecting to see carnivorous dinosaurs tearing each other apart all the time only to find out the big ones like Mapusaurus stayed away from each other unless hunting and fights over kill rights were largely unimpressive compared to dinosaur fights in movies. People had come expecting to see super-intelligent Velociraptors 6 ft. high living in packs only to find out that they lived in pairs, were the size of turkeys and around the intelligence of a house cat. Only the Utahraptor and Troodon remotely matched the intelligence shown in the films.

He had to move as a crowd of people just steamrolled out of the IMAX cinema which had regular showings of documentaries. A child in front of him was clutching a woolly mammoth stuffed toy as if for dear life. Across the loud-speaker system a metallic voice announced that if they hurried they would be in time to see Allosaurus hunt in different languages. A small gaggle of people headed off in the direction of the Morrison Formation talking eagerly.

"Mum do you know that baby raptors glide?" a little kid told his mum eagerly.

"This guide says that they are distantly related to birds. Maybe that's why," the mum replied.

He had to smile. At least the message was getting across to some people at least!

"Hey you there! Are you Jordan Matthews?" a voice behind him asked.

He turned around to see an Indian man with a kind face and a slight beard which was slowly going grey in a blue suit standing in front of Carnotaurus Candy Factory. In his left hand he was clutching a red and white paper bag full of candy. The shop had sickly sweet pink walls with a sign in blue curly writing that had a stupidly cute looking Carnotaurus biting into the C in Candy. People would have a shock seeing the real Carnotaurus compared to that cutesy one. It just struck him who the man was. It was Simon Masrani! Eighth richest person in the world with his fingers in energy, engineering and construction! Perfectly dressed and well groomed. _Christ here I am in a shirt still stained with Darwinius piss and a week's worth of stubble!_

"Yes Mr Masrani," he said stuttering. Great way to meet your new boss.

"Please call me Simon. Around me I want everyone to be a family," he said smiling popping a piece of liquorice in his mouth "Urghh. When John said the Candy Factory was terrible I thought he was talking about the décor. I digress though. So you're the super keeper! First day rescuing a wallet from a beak of a Pteranodon, safely moving the young male Smilodon to stop Half-Tooth tearing out their throats, tackling Irish Elk and saving that fool of a singer from Kelenken."

His stomach clenched. All he wanted to do was forget that day. The helplessness that he felt watching Hammond fall to the floor. Watching his face go pale as he closed his eyes for the last time. Hearing him whisper his final words: _My dream has been perfect_. It was too painful to think about. At night he kept having dreams of Hammond slowly close his eyes and when he shook John to get him to wake he would instead wake up sweating with Maria trying to console him.

"Well Jordan I hope you can continue the quite frankly outstanding work. Are you on duty?" he asked.

"No I'm on Night Shift tonight so I'm completely free."

"Excellent. Please walk with me."

He didn't think he could turn down the request anyway. It would be a bad idea to turn down your new employer who just so happened to be one of the wealthiest people in the world. Anyway Simon Masrani seemed to be just as cheerful and friendly as Hammond was. They even had the same ideas with Masrani championing rainforest conservation and clean energy so a part of him hoped that Masrani was simply a young Hammond.

"I had a check up on the animals to see if they were happy the over the last few days," he told Jordan while simultaneously dropping the bag full of offending candy in a bin "You can really tell if they're enjoying life. Just look into their eyes. If there's no sparkle then we have a problem. How can we claim to be helping protect animals if they don't have that sparkle?"

He decided he liked Masrani. The way he talked about making sure the animals were flourishing made him seem the perfect temporary owner of Prehistoric Park. Never once did he mention improving profit margins or getting guests to spend more. All he talked about was making guests and staff happy. He even slipped in how he was having helicopter flying lessons. Jordan dreaded to think how this person so full of energy on land would be like in the sky. They started to approach the Innovation Centre. In the middle of the Main Street it was the focal point for a visit to Prehistoric Park. It was made up of three circular buildings with conical rooves perfectly held together with dark brown imitation wood panels. A set of grey stone stairs led up to the entrance with two large wooden doors like sentries surrounded by shining glass. Above the doors was the famous skeletal Tyrannosaurus standing over a forest that made up Prehistoric Park's logo with the words: _Prehistoric Park Innovation Centre_. Swerving neatly around the side leading up the doors was a wheelchair ramp adorned with a railing made to look like a hulking fossilised tree.

"Let's go in I need to check something," Masrani announced.

Like a king in a palace Masrani went up the stairs two at a time with his highly expensive shoes clacking on the stone. Jordan had to run up the stairs to catch him. They passed through the doors, which seemed surprisingly light, only to meet two monsters eternally caught in battle. A Triceratops skeleton was curved in defence with the horns pointed dangerously upwards at the roaring jaws of a Tyrannosaurus skeleton. Above a black banner with red words saying _Welcome to the ultimate Wildlife Sanctuary_ hung elegantly. To the left a sign read _Prehistoric Park Museum_ which housed the variety of fossilised variants of the park's residents. To the right there was a sign saying _Masrani Innovation Centre_. He saw Masrani turn dark red.

"Hammond wanted to thank me for giving him the tech to build Prehistoric Park," he said rather sheepishly.

He opened the doors where they were greeted to a large hologram Deinotherium which was roaring and pacing around. The virtual trunk swung back and forth lazily like the living breathing creature. Suddenly it vanished only for a second later a snarling Inostrancevia appeared bearing its giant fangs. Jordan looked around in amazement. This was the building that showed the making of Prehistoric Park itself! Monitors depicted the animals running through the time portal, there was a practical display explaining how the time portal works and the physics behind it, a flashing interactive display showed how the air concentrators which allowed the animals to breathe properly worked. He couldn't believe it. Pride and place at the foot of some stairs were the time portals themselves. From Mark I where you could only go back ten minutes to Mark III which consisted of two sticks that you put in the ground to Mark V; the chrome tear drop shaped one that they used in the missions.

However everyone's attention was instead on a large oblong shaped crate in the corner surrounded by Green Stripe, Cicada and Chiyo. She seemed to be very uncomfortable with so much attention directed towards her. Cicada placed a reassuring hand on her shoulder and she looked visibly calmer. Simon walked up to them and shook Green Stripe's hand. Cicada gave a strange bow instead. They were very strange whoever they are. Eager to get out of the limelight Chiyo quickly ran up to him.

"How's Masrani?" she asked quietly.

"He seems to be thoroughly invested in continuing Hammond's style. Very energetic."

Green Stripe beckoned them over. He stood upright and proud indicating that he was going to deliver a speech. If it was anything near as good as the one he gave earlier then they were in for something special. He seemed to have a gift with words. His brother stood motionless with his arms crossed as if made of stone.

"A while ago Nigel Marven and Chiyo Ishado became stranded in Japan during the late 16th Century. There they met a young samurai who saw them as a threat and our friends barely escaped with their lives. My brother and I tracked down who that samurai was." He seemed to almost wave his hand and the box fell open. There was a series of audible gasps as a golden set of samurai armour was revealed holding a katana as thin as paper across the chest.

"Chiyo you are a very adept historian," Green Stripe said warmly which made her face turn as red as her hair "Can you tell me who owned this armour? You will find a clue on the pommel of the katana."

She looked carefully and gasped in delight. "This armour was owned by a member of the Tokugawa clan. Wait it's Tokugawa Ieyasu's armour! I met Tokugawa Ieyasu. He finished the unification of Japan and started the Tokugawa shogunate which lasted over 250 years until the Meiji Resoration! Oh my god this has so much historical significance!"

He saw one of the most rarest things in the world at that moment: a genuine smile from Chiyo. It was very reassuring to see.

"Thank you for helping her," a sharp voice whispered in his ear. He turned around to see Cicada standing behind him. He hadn't even notice him move from his brother's side. The helmeted figure nodded his unseen omniscient face and vanished among the crowd eager to get a glimpse of the samurai armour.

_That night_

He shivered. The hot day had paved the way for a bitterly cold night. Golden globes of fireflies like little stars buzzed around the branches of trees. It was a relatively peaceful night as well. There was a saying among the staff at the park: _At night there is a new Prehistoric Park_. It had even been adopted for some of the adverts: _Visit the other side of Prehistoric Park at night_. Raptors would hunt in the moonlight as the dire wolves howled like the devil and the giant orthocones and pliosaurs would smash the surface of the sea. With the nights getting longer as winter drew closer most likely they were waiting until later on in the night to cause a ruckus. As he waited at the monorail he could see the green eyes from the cave hyenas staring intently at him. One unseen one gave one of their characteristic chuckle sending a shiver down his spine.

The almost silent monorail hissed next to him and he stepped on. It was a haven with the warmth and light illuminating everything around him. Out of the window he got a better look at the hyenas who were now chasing each other in play. The monorail's doors hissed as they closed and it silently shot out from the station. Every time he looked out of the window as the monorail shot over Sorna the only people he ever saw were the occasional staff members. Few guests ventured out during the night. Families never did because of their children, some guests because at dinner they would have a few too many drinks which meant that they weren't allowed out in case they stumbled and broke their neck but mostly guests didn't venture out through fear.

Fear. The ghostly cries from raptors seemed to reverberate around the park while the unearthly howls from dire wolves reminded people too much of stories that kept them awake at night as children. In the water the giant sharks like the Megalodon and the pliosaurs like Predator X would often skim the surface. Often people preferred it when they stayed down in the murky depths where humans had to go to them instead of the other way around. Although animals weren't the only factor. Fog and mist would descend on the islands creating an unearthly atmosphere while the forgotten statues of the people who once came to the islands to execute criminals sent shivers down the hardiest of spines.

The monorail slid open and he stepped off. He only had one stop on Isla Tacano before he could call it in for the night. The cold slapped him in the face as he stepped off of the monorail. It was like knives slicing into his exposed skin. Grimacing he ventured through the mist. Through the mist he could see the meshed aviary of the Teratornis loom ominously ahead. It stretched god knows how high into the night sky to give the occupants ample flying room. Currently one of the giant condors had its head buried under one black wing with the smaller (but no less still large) Californian condors sleeping nearby. He had heard a rumour that they were to replace the meshing with sound barriers to keep the birds in so it could look more natural.

He continued along until he arrived at the exhibit. Like the rest of the park they had tried to use natural barriers as much as possible and this one consisted mainly of a valley. The only piece of fencing was at the far side which would allow the transport trucks to get in and out. He shined his torch into the exhibit in the hope that he could see the eye shine but to no avail. There were few trees with it being made to resemble a Cretaceous plain but the reason for the lack of eye shine was due to the animals actually concealing themselves. They didn't like to be seen and had learnt to avoid eye shine.

"Hello!" he shouted cupping his hands. It was a tried and tested way to definitely get the attention of the animals. Almost immediately he heard the ghostly and crackly cry of _hello _coming from the enclosure. At least six voices all shouting _hello _in the similar demonic voice came back to him.

He shined his torch on the information display. It read: _Alaskan Troodon_. He loved these dinosaurs. There were two species at Prehistoric Park, the smaller and the larger Alaskan variety. Highly intelligent (with Owen estimating that they were possibly even as intelligent as chimps or if not smarter) they could copy sounds from other animals like a parrot does. In the wild he had heard that they even copied the sounds of hadrosaurs to lure juveniles away from the herd. They were stubborn though; they would only let themselves be seen if you made the first move.

He went round to a small hut connected to the bit of fencing that read _Staff Only _in big letters. Inside there was a chunk of meat hanging on a hook that some of the food handlers must have left out. Thank goodness. He hated smelling of beef and the biting insects would never leave him alone if he had to directly handle the meat. Through a window in the hut he could see into the exhibit. Standing there with giant circular green eyes, a pointed face covered in white feathers, a black feathered body and feet with two circular claws was a Troodon. It looked at him with inquisitiveness. With their high intelligence they had already learnt where food came from.

"Are you hungry?" he asked.

He heard the Troodon give a ghostly reply: _hai_. Owen and the raptor handler Barry had tried to teach the Troodon different languages to test their intelligence. It turned out they would learn a word in one language but not in any other language. So the few words the Troodon knew had inadvertently been in several different languages. This one (Joseph after the discoverer Joseph Leidy) had learnt to say a particularly rude word in French after he caught Barry by surprise.

Jordan pressed a button and the hook slid forward taking the meat with it. A door allowed the hook to enter the exhibit attached to a railing which span across the exhibit. The Troodon gave a shrill call indicating that the hunt had begun. Although they were intelligent they still thought that the beef was a real animal and hunted it like a young Triceratops or hadrosaur. He left the hut rubbing his eyes. Loving to watch a Troodon hunt the love of his bed was more powerful at that moment. The monorail on cue had arrived and he sat down on one of the cushioned seats letting his eyes close slightly.

Suddenly over his headset there was a shrill voice: _Any keeper quickly to Permian Plain. I repeat any keeper to Permian Plain two guests are in serious danger!_ He immediately snapped out of his stupor. He looked out of the window to see the sea where the dark fin of a Squalicorax parted the water. Squalicorax lived in the sea between Tacano and Matanceros which went straight to the coast so he could still be miles away. Wait there was the sand! _Permian Plain _was the first stop but you had to pass over Hipparion Grassland. As the monorail darted across the normally amber grass he could see the station loom ahead. The monorail stopped with a hiss and he jumped out into the night…


	9. Prehistoric Park Website Part 1

Information Page

**What is Prehistoric Park?**

Prehistoric Park is the ultimate wildlife sanctuary. For multiple years on Los Cincos Muertas y Nublar 500 miles off the coast of Costa Rica Prehistoric Park has managed to run a safe and successful wildlife sanctuary. The aim of Prehistoric Park is to rescue extinct animals and give them a second chance. Safe in Prehistoric Park animals ranging from dodos to dinosaurs can build up a stable population in preparation for release into the wild or the safe facility created by InGen.

**History of Prehistoric Park**

In 1955 John Hammond, the owner of the rising genetics company InGen, worked with renowned physicists Robert Oppenheimer and Albert Einstein in an effort to create an alternate answer to nuclear energy. Instead they found the answer to time travel. In 1958 the first time portal was created. Although they could not change history to possibly save millions of lives Hammond leased the time portal to the United Nations for historical research as well as using it to solve cold cases. Hammond though was a naturalist. He wanted to save animals from extinction. In 1989 John Hammond purchased the Los Cincos Muertas y Nublar island chain off of the Costa Rican government to create the ultimate wildlife sanctuary. Hammond however planned to use his genetics company to clone extinct animals using insects fossilised in amber. Calling his sanctuary Jurassic Park Hammond planned to create and open a sanctuary full of dinosaurs. Multiple difficulties arose such as incomplete DNA sequences and contamination stopped dinosaurs from being bred. Jurassic Park was abandoned in 1993 but Hammond's dream was not. In 2010 InGen received permission to make another time portal and a plan was put in place. Extending park residency to include all extinct animals in 2013 Prehistoric Park used the time portal to start rescuing extinct animals. In early 2015 preparation began to start opening Prehistoric Park to the general public. On the 11th June 2015 Prehistoric Park opened and the rest is history.

**Los Cincos Muertas y Nublar**

The island chain which Prehistoric Park calls home is located 500 miles off the coast of Costa Rica. Formed 10,000 years ago by volcanic activity surprisingly no life colonised the island chain thanks mostly to the large volcanic ring that surrounded the islands. Most of the history of the islands has been confused in mythology but through the efforts of historian and deputy manager Chiyo Ishado we now fully now the history of the islands. It was at first thought to be used by the Matazama civilisation in ancient times but evidence has vastly overestimated the time span. Chiyo Ishado found evidence that the Matazamas used the islands from 1200 to 1450 where they would take murderers and the worst criminals to the islands where they were to be executed. On Los Cincos Muertas they would be partially crushed, hung, burned, drowned and finally beheaded before being buried on Isla Nublar. In their stories it was thought that the fog on Nublar were the ghosts of those executed. During construction of Prehistoric Park workers found the place where they were buried; it is now cornered off where only historians may go. Throughout the islands you may find statues that the Matazamas built to deter vengeful spirits as they went to drop off more criminals.

In 1450 the Matazamas vanished leaving no one behind. Chiyo Ishado has found evidence suggesting that a mixture of disease and warfare wiped out every member of the Matazama civilisation. Other civilisations feared the islands and Spanish conquistador Gil González Dávila refused to step foot on the islands calling it '_la casa de diablo_'. Following the departure of the Spanish the islands were not claimed by anyone until 1894 when a German mission claimed the islands. Intended as a port connecting the German Empire in the Pacific regular earthquakes stopped any attempts to build on the islands. In 1918 the Japanese annexed the islands but like the Germans did not try to build on the islands due to earthquakes. In 1945 Costa Rica filed a petition to reclaim the islands due to the Matazamas originally coming from Costa Rica and was given control of the islands. Like the previous owners earthquakes deterred building on the islands. John Hammond representing InGen bought the islands for US $11 million in 1984 in 1989 to build his wildlife sanctuary. Using earthquake proof building techniques (something the Costa Rican had been unwilling to do due to the islands being barren so couldn't attract tourists) a few buildings were erected and Hammond managed to breed a series of rare plants and small animals to make their home on the islands. Today the islands are home to Prehistoric Park. Los Cincos Muertas y Nublar are still part of Costa Rica and only accepts Costa Rican colon.


	10. The Untameable King

The Untameable King

His tiredness immediately slipped away. His legs burned like they were on fire as he ran with all his energy to the _Permian Plains_. He soon saw the arching sign of the area slowly appearing through the darkness. It was home to five species: the Inostrancevia and Scutosaurus from Late Permian Russia, the Estemmenosuchus from mid-Permian Russia and finally the Prionosuchus and Brazilichthys from mid-Permian Brazil. His footsteps rang loudly on the path causing the Scutosaurus to give low cries like a car starting in anger of being woken up. Then he heard it. A scream that pierced the night sky. It came from deep within the _Permian Plains_ where the lakes were. He hoped to god that the scream was due to an Estemmenosuchus. They looked ferocious and if they attacked you with their head crest it could hurt but they were otherwise safe. He passed the Estemmenosuchus Lake only to see the strange inhabitants lounging on the shore with no human in sight…

It could only mean one thing. They were in the Prionosuchus River. He quickly ran past the Brazilichthys pond seeing one of the green dart from the surface. The scream came again but much clearer. His heart was pounding violently in his chest. Looking up he saw a girl in her late teens in a bikini clinging to a tree branch for dear life as a boy about the same age almost pure white with fear sitting on a rock. There was a hiss like a crocodile which went right through him. Desperately he tried to think how they even got in; the exhibit was surrounded by a Plexiglas wall two meters high and thick water reeds grew around the wall. There was a series of large rocks attached to the Plexiglas to give the giant amphibians more privacy so they probably climbed over the rocks.

"Someone help please!" the girl shouted. He saw the boy slip on the rock and a trickle of red seep down the surface. Suddenly the water erupted in white froth.

"I'm coming!" he yelled. He had to think of a plan. There were four Prionosuchus in the river each around 4.5 meters long. Fast swimmers but primarily ate fish so the attack on the kids was likely territorial. He could think of many plans but all of them needed another person.

"Nani ga okotte iru?" a deep voice asked. He turned around to see Katashi Hamada who was a member of the Animal Security Force. This was probably the first time he had met him. "You're Jordan Matthews? What is happening?"

"Two kids climbed over the rocks into the river for god only knows why. The girl is hiding in that tree and the boy has cut himself on the rock. I think the Prions are attacking over territorial reasons."

"What are we to do? I have no tranquilizers or electric Tasers," Hamada explained.

"I'll distract the Prions and you get the kids."

They ran round to the keeper entrance of the exhibit. He quickly ran into the keeper hut and searched frantically in the hut. Hopefully there would still be food in the hut or otherwise he would have to use his self as bait. Yes! He grabbed a bucket full of stinking fish and ran up to meet Hamada who was sliding open the gate. There was a small walkway around the wall of the exhibit which he nimbly ran across. In the darkness he could see the pointed black outline of a Prionosuchus circling the rock that the teenager was on. Thank goodness Prions were territorial; his plan may not have worked if there was more than one in the area. There was an area of shallow water which he waded in feeling the warmth of the water lap against his ankles. He took out a fish and dipped it in the water, tearing out a chunk so fish blood filled the water.

"Come here for the love of god, come here."

He saw the black shadow stop circling the rock and dart towards where he was. Quickly he jumped onto a fallen log so the jaws of the temnospondyl could not snap at him. The water erupted and the pointed, thin snout snapped and hissed ferociously. It looked like a gharial except instead of the hard rigid scales there were hard pebbly skin. In the dark he could clearly see the lime green skin with orange spots. It snapped its long jaws and hissed angrily. He heard a splash indicating that one of the teens had jumped in.

"Don't go anywhere!" he yelled at the amphibian. He threw some fish into the water which quickly vanished thanks to the jaws of the Prionosuchus. He heard another splash. Please let there be enough fish to get both kids out.

"Jordan I've got them!" Hamada yelled.

With his heart beating ten to the dozen he threw the last fish to the amphibian and jumped from the log onto the walkway. Outside the exhibit he saw the two teens shivering as Hamada fetched a towel to cover them form the keeper's hut. Luckily the boy had sustained no new injuries; his trip on the rock had opened an old injury.

"What the hell were you playing at?" he asked angrily "Do you think it's funny to swim in rivers full of dangerous animals? If you want I can let you swim with a mosasaur!"

"It was your fault!" the girl yelled punching the boy on his arm "We were supposed to be going on the River Tour with the rest of our class but this dick convinced me to go swimming with him! 'Romantic' you said. 'Nice pool for decoration that no one would see us'!"

"Why would a decorative pool have a railing?" Jordan asked the boy angrily before turning on the girl "You're just as bad. You could easily have said no. You could easily have questioned why a 'pool for decoration' had so much protection!"

As he was berating the teens Hamada was talking through his head set. When the kids sat down on a bench giving Jordan dark looks Hamada went up to him.

"I've told Control," he told him in his deep voice "They were with the trip from Mercersburg Academy in Pennsylvania. Going on the night River Tour and no one noticed that they had gone missing until Irritator River."

In a few minutes the stern looking teacher marched through the dark looking eerily like a saber toothed tiger. What followed was a flurry of threats ranging from expulsion to losing all privileges until they graduated.

"I have had to leave your classmates with Dr Wilson!" she chastised "They had to stop the boat tour and I had to go through a long nosed carnivorous dinosaur exhibit!"

As he wondered whether she was referring to the Irritator, Suchomimus or the Baryonyx she marched the two students into the night. The sleep had started to hit him hard and his bed called out for him which he gladly acquiesced to.

_The Next Month_

The transport HGV rumbled slowly across the path. Low lying branches created a horrid scraping noise across the window screen as they passed underneath. Winston was driving and happily whistling as he drove. In the back there was a deep growl which caused Winston to smile. He pulled out some blueberries from his pocket and forced them through the thin meshing which caused the growling to be replaced by jaws smacking against each other.

"You're spoiling him," Jordan laughed.

"Well he's worth it."

As they rounded the corner they saw huge yellow monoliths of cranes, diggers and cement mixers all bearing the logo of Timack Construction. Large holes were being dug up in the earth which were duly filled with cement.

"Any idea what they're doing there?" Jordan asked.

"No idea. That used to be where Cronus and Jane lived. What the hell are they doing?"

They would have to wait for their question to be answered. They arrived at the vets with Head Vet Suzanne waving outside. Unlike the images that he had seen of the time portal holding pens the vet holding pens (built following the arrival of the Alamosaurus) were often decked out to make the animals more relaxed in their living area. Two doors opened allowing them to park the latter end of the HGV directly into the holding pen. As they remotely opened the HGV trailer doors they heard the growl of a bear. The cave bear that they had been transporting limped into the holding pen. He was a young bear and had fallen off a log in his enclosure spraining his front paw.

"Jordan someone's waiting for you inside," Suzanne told him with a sly smile. It must be Maria. Winston patted him on his shoulder as he stepped out of the HGV. As he entered the vets he saw a small fenced off area where a model of a Caudipteryx was feeding brightly squawking chicks. It wasn't Maria though who was waiting for him, it was Nigel.

"Hi there Jordan!" he said jovially "How are you doing?"

"Fine. You wanted to see me?"

"Yeah. Our Head of Operations Claire Dearing and Chiyo have noticed that following the…passing of John and the Prionosuchus incident public opinion of Prehistoric Park has dropped. Don't worry all the animal rights and environmentalist groups are still on side but specifically parents have started to turn against us. Saying that creatures like Tyrannosaurs, raptors and terror birds are a threat…"

He bit his tongue to stop his reply. It could easily be argued that the parents were correct.

"We normally would open a new attraction but…we don't have any new attractions. The only ones we had were the animals in _Permian Plains_ but we had them for months before we even announced them to the public."

In his copy of _Animal Guide _the residents of _Permian Plains_ had in big red letters: _Not yet available for public viewing_.

"We've decided to go on a new mission to rescue a new animal. Ms Dearing has chosen the animal and her choice has ticked off Chiyo. We made a list of animals that we thought would be suitable like Acrocanthosaurus, Placerias etc. but she ignored them. I'm getting ahead of myself. How you handled the Prionosuchus and others in the past like the Pteranodon wallet incident I thought you would be perfect to help us rescue this animal."

He couldn't believe it. His heart was pounding insanely fast. He was going to go back in time! He was going to see an extinct animal in its natural habitat! Maybe he would even see a dinosaur in its natural habitat!

"I would love to," he said excitedly.

"Good. Well you should know what we're rescuing…the Indominus Rex."

_Two Weeks Later_

It was early in the morning. The moon was still out as he walked down the garden path to Chiyo's bungalow. Having early mornings for much of his employment at Prehistoric Park this no longer fazed him remotely. Bright amber light coming from behind the curtains thankfully indicated that Chiyo was awake. He knocked on the door to hear a yell calling him in. Chiyo was sat hunched over wearing combat trousers, a loose fitting shirt, a frayed combat jacket and black walking boots. An ominous claw mark could be seen on her jacket, likely from something now residing in the park. She was watching a _Godzilla_ movie, something quite fitting seen as the I Rex was the largest known carnivorous dinosaur.

"Ready?" she asked.

"You bet!" He couldn't wait. He felt like a child on Christmas Eve. He practically skipped towards the monorail which earned a rare smile from Chiyo. As the monorail thundered over the sea between Pena and Nublar he started to feel that he eerily resembled a child with him looking outside in excitement. Soon the hissing of the monorail doors greeted them and he ran out. The portal area was bathed in blinding quartz lights. The area was sandy and he had a strange suspicion that a three toed foot could be seen among the yellow sand.

Chiyo seemed a bit anxious with her right hand clenched in a fist on her heart whispering something under her breath. He had to smile when she told him that to psych herself up before each mission she would copy something called _Attack on Titan_. A sound of crunching sand echoed around them and Nigel Marven arrived with someone called Ben. So all four of them was going back in time; probably for the best with a small group allowing them to sneak in and out without drawing attention to themselves.

"Okay guys," Nigel said eagerly "We are going back 69 million years to an island off the coast of Brazil for the Indominus Rex. We're only bringing back an I rex or two; most likely we will see new species of extinct life and we can't bring them back. To look after animals properly we need to know a bit about them so we can't do that with a new species. Our research has found there to be a large earthquake which caused a landslide wiping out all large life here a week after we plan to go. Be careful as well. The Indominus Rex is smart, has a good sense of smell, can grip you with its hands and can camouflage itself. Well here we go!"

Swirling mist appeared before them which became more solid. It was the time portal. It formed a circular shape and it was like looking through a blurred mirror. He could see something beyond the portal but could not tell distinct shapes. They walked slowly towards the portal. It seemed to take a long time to get there. Eventually they got so close to the portal that he could make out vague shapes of ferns and trees. As he passed through the portal it felt cold. Like he had just dipped his head in a bucket of ice. The coldness immediately gave way to warmth…

He was 69 million years ago in the past! It was amazing. He stood in ferns and horsetails which went up to his knees, emerald dragonflies twice the size of your palm buzzed loudly and bright cream orchids grew on the thick trunks of trees. He could even feel the higher oxygen content in the air; something he was well acquainted with working in the dinosaur enclosures. He looked into the sky to see the sun burning down; the same sun that he knew but oh so alien.

"This is amazing."

"Right guys," Nigel announced "We believe that the Indominus Rex would hunt by lying camouflaged on the edge of forests. Using its superb sense of smell it would pick out sick or injured dinosaurs before striking. Luckily we have this!"

He pulled out something like a camera from his backpack. It was a thermal imaging camera. It was a brilliant idea; by the time of the Cretaceous dinosaurs had evolved to be warm blooded so the camera could easily pick one out. Nigel put the camera to his eyes but shook his head.

"Nothing?" Chiyo asked.

"Not a dickie bird. Well we just have to go for our normal tactic. Find a lake or river."

It was a good plan. All animals had to eventually go for a drink. Herbivores often congregated to bodies of water so there would be ample feeding ground for an Indominus Rex. Nigel ushered them towards the forest in order to find the water source. The shade of the trees offered blessed relief from the Cretaceous sun. All around he could hear the chirrup of insects and even the squawk of an indeterminate pterosaur. He felt on edge though. He felt like something was watching him. Nigel continuously placed the thermal camera to his eyes but nothing bar a few marsupials turned up.

He heard the sound of running water to the east. Nigel waved them into the direction of the sound. They entered a small clearing where a brook babbled straight through the forest cheerfully. Numerous green reeds sprung from the edge of the bright blue water. Nigel got closer to the brook and he heard mud squelch under his boots. There was suddenly a clicking noise. A few more clicking noises joined the first. A small flock of ornithopods at least four meters long hopped up to the strange creatures by the brook. They had bald yellow heads and a grey body which had blue bristles running from the nape of the neck to the tail.

"Come here," Chiyo said softly holding out her hand. The largest made a chirruping noise like _chi-chi-chi_ before hopping eagerly around her.

"These small ornithopods may have evolved from Gasparinisaura from the mainland," Nigel laughed trying to pet the nearest ornithopod who nimble bounced away from his hand.

Jordan tried to pet a female one but she was too quick for him. He wondered whether these small dinosaurs would ever be discovered by science. It would be nice to see them in the park; although they could easily exhibit traits changing how to care from them. Extinct animals already known to science always exhibited unexpected traits never mind ones unknown to science.

"I would love to take these back to the park," Nigel laughed "You guys need to wait until somebody discovers your bones in the…"

The brook exploded as if someone had thrown an explosive into the water. The ornithopods started honking in terror and hopping about frantically. Two pale white shapes slowly came into view; their camouflage almost perfect except that their outline could still be seen. They were larger than a Tyrannosaurus, even larger than a Giganotosaurus, with an almost skeletal rounded skull full of curved formidable teeth. Large black osteoderms ran down the neck and along the stomach of the theropod. He could see that the dinosaur had more feathers than previously thought with light blue feathers covering the crown of the head and along the arms. The nearest one gave a roar as loud as a nuclear explosion which made Jordan's knees buckle. He ran towards Nigel and Chiyo who were looking at awe at the dinosaurs.

"It's an Indominus!" Nigel cried.

An Indominus grabbed a nearby ornithopod who had struggled to escape with the rest of the flock. It was a horrific sight to watch. The ornithopod continuously gave a shriek which caused the hairs on the back of his neck to stand up on end. The Indominus started smashing the ornithopod against the earth like a smith banging against an anvil with the shrieks of the ornithopod becoming increasingly cracked with each bang. Soon all that remained of the ornithopod was a bloodied lifeless pulp.

"Fuck," Jordan said heaving slightly. He had never seen such a bloody killing tactic. The two Indominus ripped apart the ornithopod and swallowed the dead dinosaur whole.

"Amazing," Nigel said in awe "Two males. The larger females may hunt sauropods instead; Paul Serano found evidence of Saltasaurus living on the island."

"Nigel," Chiyo said frantically "They've spotted us."

He could feel the hairs standing on his neck again. Sweat dripped down from his brow and ran down the bridge of his nose. The two dinosaurs stared at them intently fixing them with their beady green eyes. The larger one gave a low pitched chattering sound. Its voice then got higher in pitch and turned into a strange yapping sound.

"It's communicating," Chiyo said.

"With us or…?" Jordan started.

Before he could finish his sentence the two dinosaurs charged at them. Bellowing like a thunderstorm the two Indominus ran at them with their colossus jaws opened revealing rows of painfully sharp teeth. Nigel pulled something quickly from his pocket and suddenly a time portal shimmered from the end of the object. The smaller Indominus immediately vanished through the portal but the second one stopped in his tracks. He arched his back and roared but curiously looked around the portal. He made a strange growling noise from the back of his throat.

"What is happening….oh my god!" Chiyo cried.

Behind them was a vague shape similar to that of the male Indominus except that it was much bigger. The top half was a pale green, the same colour of the tree tops, while the bottom half was a ghostly white. The green half seemed to dissolve and become white like the rest of the dinosaur. An explosion erupted from the jaws of the Indominus.

"It's a female," Nigel gulped still holding out the time portal in his hand "She ordered the two males to attack us! They take orders."

The female roared at the smaller male. He made a sound similar to a whine of a dog. He turned his rounded face to them and bellowed before looking back at the female. She gave an even larger roar causing the male to seemingly shrink in fear. The male looked at the portal and ran through.

"He was so scared of the female that he ran through!" Jordan gasped "Wait…"

The female seemed very angry. She charged at the group. He saw Nigel, Chiyo and Ben jump out of the way but he was too late. The foot of the female sprayed gravel into his face causing him to fly back. A searing pain burned the back of his head. Briefly he could see a myriad of stars flashing before his eyes.

"Jordan!" Chiyo yelled.

He sat up groggily. From where he was sitting he could see Ben, Nigel and Chiyo staring at him in fear. By Nigel's foot was the broken remains of his time portal (a good thing that they had more than one). He felt a hot gust of wind against the back of his neck. Gingerly he turned around to see the pale snout of the Indominus Rex. He felt something grab him and he was lifted up into the air. Pale green eyes looked straight into his soul. It was observing him. Looking at what he was doing like a child who had picked up a spider. He tried to control his breathing, stop himself from panicking, in a vain attempt to avoid the dinosaur tearing him in half as easily as someone opening a packet of sweets. He saw something red in the dinosaur's eye. Then he felt himself flying through the air before landing in cold water. Thank god it was deeper than he thought it was or otherwise he probably would not have survived. His head went under and he emerged with water stinging his eyes. Through the water he could see a red flare slowly descending.

The Indominus was roaring angrily at the flare allowing Ben to aim his rifle. Chiyo handed him some darts containing a cocktail of PCP and M99; something commonly used by the park to tranquilize the large carnivores. Ben fired but the dart harmlessly flicked off of the thick hide of the Indominus. Somehow the dinosaur felt it and turned around to roar at them. Ben fired again and the dart impaled the Indominus straight into her gum. The Indominus started thrashing around angrily; her tail swept against a nearby tree and snapped it in two like a toothpick. She gave a feeble cry and collapsed with a thud. Dripping wet he waded from the water to look at the pale body slowly rising up and down with her breath.

"Fancied a swim?" Nigel asked beaming.

"You know. I was a bit sweaty chasing dinosaurs so I went for a dip," he laughed. Everyone started laughing although that was more for relief than humour. Chiyo pulled out the second teardrop portal from her bag and passed it to Ben who went through. Chiyo also pulled out a red towel and draped it over his shoulders.

"Take your shirt off otherwise you'll get hypothermia," she said quietly but with a slight smile on her face "Dry yourself but keep the towel on you. Ben's getting Dr Paulson to look at your head."

Nigel was right next to the Indominus and placed his head on her stomach. He smiled brightly as his head rhythmically rose and fell with each breath. Jordan could not pass up this opportunity. He had never stroked a large theropod for obvious reasons so why not take the opportunity to stroke the largest one known? Her scales were warm to the touch. She had small bristles in between her strong scales which created a strange sensation under his hands. Chiyo was happily looking at her long curved black claws.

The portal opened behind them and a large truck came through with a series of mechanisms on the back used to transport the colossus dinosaur. Bob and Dr Paulson came through gasping at the size of the tranquilized dinosaur. Dr Paulson was looking at the back of his head while Bob was maneuvering tassels over the dinosaur who was slowly lifted onto the back of the truck.

"Jordan you amaze me," the doctor said chuckling "Encounter an Irish Elk and you get concussion for close to a week. Encounter the largest carnivore to walk the earth and you only have a slight graze."

Bob was walking around eagerly rubbing his hands and shouting orders to people. "Be careful she'll be the only female Indominus Rex. She's just beautiful Nigel. Jordan I have a feeling that you'll be getting a raise!"

Smiling he walked with Chiyo through the time portal. As soon as he emerged into the dusty holding pens something almost bowled him over. The wavy hair and smell of berries indicated that Maria was happy to see him.

"Why are you wet? Fancy a swim?" she asked half laughing half hysterical.

People were shouting about the roads being closed off so the female Indominus could quickly be transported to her enclosure without avoiding excitable guests. Chiyo started to climb a metal stairway up onto a walkway over the holding pens themselves so he and Maria followed her. Looking down on a pen the two males were tearing apart some bloody pulp. Simon Masrani was looking at them intently next to Nigel. He was gripping the banister of the walkway tightly so hard that his knuckles had turned white. Was he scared?

"I didn't know that they were white," he said quietly.

"Oh yes Simon," Nigel said almost too cheerfully. Was he fearful as well? "Easier to camouflage. We found out that they can even hide from thermal imagery by changing pigmentation in their skin. Perfectly disguising themselves in the mediums of light. Do you think the kids will be scared?"

"Nigel I will be honest. They will give the parents nightmares…"


	11. Prehistoric Park Website Part 2

**Attractions**

At Prehistoric Park we want to make your journey through time as enriching as possible. We offer a series of attractions which will plunge you straight into prehistory and create memories which will last for a lifetime.

_Pterosaur Aviary_

Located on Isla Nublar the Pterosaur Aviary is home to the park's pterosaurs. Here you and your family will be able to come face to face with the giants that soared over the heads of dinosaurs. Take a stroll through the Jurassic Coast Walkway as the British pterosaurs Dimorphodon and Rhamphorhyncus dart above your head or trek through the Jurassic China Forest to see the tiny Darwinopterus. See the stark contrast between this wide group of flying reptiles ranging from the filter feeding Unwindia to our dive bombing Pteranodon. You will even get to see the largest flying animal that Prehistoric Park exhibits: Queztalcoatlus. This giant pterosaur which lived a mostly terrestrial lifestyle will definitely impress you.

**Reviews**

_5/5_

_The aviary was amazing. It was amazing to see the different pterosaurs and my daughter wanted to take home one of the little Jurassic pterosaurs from China. I got a fantastic photo of a Pteranodon flying above my husband and kids. Truly a must. _**Mai Nakatani**

_4.5/5_

_It was one of the highlights of my time on Prehistoric Park. I loved seeing the pterosaurs in their natural habitat. I was a little disappointed that I didn't get to see the Rhamphorhynchus. Turns out they are nocturnal so I missed them. _**Jacques Alland**

_Matanceros River Tour_

Tour prehistory through the rivers of Isla Matanceros. As you go down the river on the banks you will see a wide range of prehistoric plants as well as the extraordinary animals that inhabited the past. See the piscivorous hunters Baryonyx and Irritator from the early Cretaceous sweep the rivers for fish. On the banks you will get to spot the Argentinian sauropod Amargasaurus and the primitive horse Hipparion taking a quick drink. Look carefully in the water and you might spot the ancient Mesozoic coelacanth Lepidotes. New to Prehistoric Park the partial fish hunting early dinosaur Dilophosaurus stalking the riverside.

**Reviews**

_4/5_

_My son recently wrote a school report about what he did on holiday and wrote virtually only about the rive tour. An Irritator swam right past the boat and my kids were almost hyperventilating with excitement. Even seeing smaller like the terrestrial Triassic crocodile thing up close was a highlight and we even managed to get a quick glimpse of the Dilophosaurus! I have to drop a star though because I thought it might be a bit unsafe having the big carnivore so close to the boat. _**Mike Corbatt.**

_2/5_

_The tour was a disappointment. We only saw the fish that we saw already in the aquarium. When we actually saw a dinosaur, the Dilophosaurus, I was very disappointed. The tour guide was talking rubbish saying that it wasn't venomous and didn't have a frill! There was the rain as well! It never stopped. The only reason I'm giving it two stars because my boyfriend seemed to like it. _**Helen Ward.**

_Eocene Trail_

Have you ever wanted to walk through a prehistoric forest? At Prehistoric Park you can with the Eocene Trail located on Isla Sorna. Walk through the Messel pits where at Prehistoric Park we have recreated actual plant life from Eocene Germany. Around you a wide array of Eocene animals can be seen such as the early horse Hyracotherium and Propaleotherium who were so old they still have toes instead of hooves!Bouncing around there will be the shrew like Leptictidium and in the trees what was first thought to be our ancestor the Darwinius. If you come at the right time you might even be able to help feed the Darwinius with the keepers their favourite food! _These animals do bite so please do not pet them._

**Reviews**

_4/5_

_My family and I loved the Eocene trail. I don't care what the keeper said the Darwinius must be related to humans because the moustache my mother-in-law has is exactly the same as one of the cute little things. My son Abbas could have easily stayed in there with the little bouncing shrew animals. Really a must for everyone! _**Mohammad al-Diwari**

_Ocean Tour_

Prehistoric Park doesn't end at the coast! Taking one of our ocean tours you can see the wide array of sea creatures. With a Plexiglas bottom boat you can come up close and personal with the park's denizens of the deep including the real life Loch Ness Monster the Elasmosaurus, the serpent like whale Basilosaurus and the giant sea turtle Archelon. With the option to sit above deck in the sun with food and drinks provided you can go on a cruise through prehistory. If you don't want to go on one of our boats please take our underwater walkways. Thick Plexiglas walls will protect you from the animals as you can get up close with some sea monsters too dangerous to be on the boat tour including our giant mosasaur Tylosaurus and the shark which ate whales Megalodon. Sometimes you can even go with a tour guide to see the Tylosaur, Predator X, Liopleurodon or Megalodon feeding shows. Warning: the shows may scare young children!

**Reviews**

_5/5_

_Me and my girlfriend went on both the boat tour and the walkway. Got a bit tired on the walkway and a bit of sunburn on the boat but it was well worth it. The Tylosaurus feeding show was amazing seeing it break in half its food! I'm not a dolphin fan but seeing the Dorudon jump out of the water on the boat tour really made the day for me. Fantastic! _**Joe Harrison**

_Prehistoric Park Greenhouse_

Prehistoric Park has rescued not only animals but plants from extinction! Here you can see the food of the giants from Jurassic cycads to ancient conifers. You can even see the very first terrestrial plant Cooksonia growing on an artificial coast. Our resident paleobotanist Dr Ellie Sattler can escort you through the evolution of plants which provided the opportunity for life to flourish on the planet.

_Gyrosphere and Wrangler Tours_

Prehistoric Park gives you two ways to explore prehistory up close and personal. On Nublar, Sorna and Muerta you can travel in our state of the art Gyrospheres. In these spheres you can come right up close with a wide array of dinosaurs including the highly vocal Parasaurolophus, the Hollywood star Stegosaurus and the largest known dinosaur Argentinosaurus. For those travelling in larger groups or just want to relax on each island you get to go on the Wrangler Tours. Prehistoric Park uses a multiple of electric Toyota and Ford jeeps to drive you through not only the herbivore dinosaur exhibits but also the formidable carnivores and other unique extinct animals. On the jeep tours you will see many exotic creatures including the bone crunching Saurosuchus, the super intelligent Troodon and the king of the dinosaurs Tyrannosaurus. On both the Gyrospheres and Wrangler Tours you can learn all about Prehistoric Park from the voice of noted naturalist David Attenborough! We spared no expense.

**Reviews**

_5/5_

_I went on the Wrangler Tour on Isla Nublar with my two kids and it was one of the greatest moments that we've ever had! So many lasting memories. All the animals decided to show their faces and when we saw the T Rex coming. I think it was Terrance and my kids practically screamed themselves half to death in both fear and excitement. With David Attenborough's voice resonating through the radio it made it even more worthwhile. A true prehistoric experience! _**Lorna Myers**

_4.5/5_

_I went on the Sorna Gyrospheres and it was sick. Me and my sister went right up close to the Paralititan and we could feel the vibrations from its footsteps! It was even better going right through a massive herd of Gallimimus, we got loads of good photos. My only problem was that we couldn't go near the Triceratops but I heard you couldn't go near them on the Nublar tour so that's not too bad. _**Davon Washington.**

_Prehistoric Park Innovation Centre_

Prehistoric Park is at the epicentre of scientific and paleontological progress. You too can see first-hand the wonders made possible thanks to prehistoric park. Split into three sections you can through to either: the Hammond Creation Lab, the Natural History Museum and the Masrani Innovation Lab. In the Natural History Museum you can see fossils and other artefacts preserved for millions of years which gave us an insight into the prehistoric world. There you can even meet our resident paleontologists Dr Alan Grant, Dr Ashley Quintain and Dr Richard Levine who can teach you about the prehistoric world before you go out into the park. The Masrani Innovation Lab will give you insight into the making of Prehistoric Park. Our chief scientists will show you how the time portal works as our engineers will show you how our high tech equipment works in order to make prehistoric animals a second chance. We even have a hologram machine to give you an accurate size comparison of the animals that you will soon see. Warning our Tyrannosaurus hologram will give you a good fright! Our Hammond Creation Lab will show you how InGen is using genetic research to help benefit humanity as well as how we manage to clone our vast array of prehistoric plants. If you are lucky you might even get to meet our chief geneticist himself Dr Henry Wu! This attraction is perfect for students.

**Reviews**

_5/5_

_The Innovation Centre was amazing. Although I'm not an engineering or physics student I thought the Masrani Lab to be very informative. It was very informative talking to Dr Alan Grant who was very willing to answer my questions on Tyrannosaurs before I went out to meet them. The Hammond Lab was the best by far and it was nice to see the technicians actually scanning the genome to a new plant right in front of me! _**Saffron Rajah**

_Carboniferous House_

At Prehistoric Park we have managed to recreate the forests of the Carboniferous period. Located on Isla Nublar we have a biodome made of ETFE covering 1.56 hectares. Inside you will be transported to a primeval world where you will get to see giant bugs such as Meganeura, a dragonfly the size of a seagull. In our artificial lake you will get to see our Scottish lake monster the Crassigyrinus up close and personal. You can even see some of the first reptiles to ever evolve such as the tiny lizard like Hylonomus. Even the plants that you will see come from a time millions of years before dinosaurs evolved ranging from the towering Lepidodendron to the fern Pecopteris. _The Carboniferous House contains vastly higher amount of oxygen concentration and the increased humidity can cause light headedness. Please do not enter if pregnant or prone to light headedness._

**Reviews**

_4/5_

_The Carboniferous House really took me back in time millions of years in the past. It was amazing to see the giant bugs that lived before the dinosaurs lived. Absolutely great! _**John Arbuck**

_Aquarium_

Take a journey under the seas of prehistory in the Prehistoric Park Aquarium located on Isla Nublar. Starting from the Cambrian period you will go through the history of the world through the oceans. We have it all from sharks to trilobites. Come see the Scorpion Walkway where our sea scorpions dwell and dare you go into the Amazon River. We have multiple strange and scary creatures that lurk in the Amazon River for conservation purposes including black caiman, electric eels and the herbivorous piranha pacu as well as our ferocious extinct species of piranha the Megapiranha. Our Tank Tunnel will let you see the Devonian shark Stethacanthus swimming above.

**Reviews**

_5/5_

_The Aquarium was fantastic! Who knew how strange animals in the past were like the Anomalocaris? Even the giant sea scorpions were a treat and we arrived just in time for feeding. A great experience. _**Mason Lockwood**

_4.5/5_

_It was fantastic seeing the prehistoric fish up close and I'm happy they were given big tanks to live in. I can't stand seeing animals living in small enclosures so seeing the modern day animals and the sharks, armoured fish etc. living in big tanks made my day! Truly devoted to conservation. _**Amy Nikita**

_New to 2016: __Prehistoric Park Petting Zoo_

Prehistoric Park aims to bring domestic animals back from extinction and now you can even get close to one or two. Located near Main Street on Isla Nublar we have a large area for the animals to live happily. With our extinct dogs like the kuri and toy bulldog and extinct horses such as the Norfolk trotter any animal lover will sure to enjoy our petting zoo! **Unfortunately errors revolving around one species of horse has caused the opening of the Petting Zoo to be delayed.**

_Note: I'm on holiday next Sunday so some time in the week I'm posting a special chapter. Then it will go back to every Sunday with something from the website._


	12. Special-Prelude to Crisis

**I'm doing this special due to my holiday when I would normally update A Keeper's Story. It's a bit different from the rest of the series. I've also done a bit of alternate history to explain why technology is more advanced in the story than our world. DaDog has also kindly revealed a few animals that he will be adding in his continuation of the missions in the Final so I'll try and mention one or two of them.**

Prelude to Crisis

_Simon Masrani_

The shimmering hologram of an Apatosaurus stared down at him with eyes similar to that of a cow. Even on a hologram you could faintly see the bristles on the crown of the sauropod standing slightly erect. He quickly walked towards the staircase to which nimbly took the steps two at a time. At the top of the winding staircase was a door bearing the title: _Hammond Creation Lab_. Inside were many guests eagerly looking through a curved glass wall where people dressed in stereotypical white suits were pouring over chemistry sets and computers. Parts of the glass wall had a DNA strand with googly eyes and a Texan drawl bounding around eagerly. Where the projector was that the DNA strand originated from he did not know.

"All life is made up of DNA," the strand said "Four nucleotides called guanine, cytosine, adenine and thymine are joined to a deoxyribose-phosphate backbone. The two strands are held together by hydrogen bonds like these. The changing sequence of the nucleotides makes everything from bacteria to dinosaurs and even you!"

"Henry!" Simon said waving at a Chinese-American man in a tight black shirt tucked into his grey trousers. Like always the chief genetics researcher for InGen looked prim and proper. Even his black hair glossy and finely combed made him look professional. He followed Henry into his office; just like the lab it was separated from tourists by a glass wall. Throughout the office were various file containers, computers as well as a few everyday appliances such as a small fridge, a sink and a kettle. In the centre of the office was a table with a proud fern like plant brightening up the room.

"So Simon what brings you here?" Henry asked offering a chair facing him at the table "Would you like some tea? I make it myself."

"Gladly. Henry what plant is this? Have you cloned another one of the prehistoric plants?" he asked smiling. Although whether that was breaking park policy he didn't know.

"Oh no. That plant is _Karacosis wutensis_," he said sitting down handing Simon a glass mug full of bright yellow steaming tea "it is the subject of my latest paper. I warn you the tea has a rather overpowering taste of lemon."

He was right. It wasn't an altogether unpleasant taste but a bit too overpowering for him. Henry seemed to really like it with him quickly draining his mug and refilled his mug with the teapot. Must be a geneticist thing with the strong flavors. The one that he had known in university had a strange affinity for strong smelling perfumes.

"Everyone seems to be publishing papers recently. Chiyo has recently published a paper as well," Simon chuckled. Other than her role as deputy manager Chiyo continued her research as a historian and had finally released her most recent paper on the Space Race. He had read it and was amazed how many things that were developed for space travel such as LED lights, solar panels, microchips and cordless tools. What was scary though how she mentioned that most of Prehistoric Park's tech would not have been invented if the UN had not taken over the Russian-American projects following the Apollo-Soyuz Project (something that he had read rankled Ronald Reagan). Quite possibly the Martian colony would not have existed if not through the space programs being given to the UN according to Chiyo.

"She really knows her history," Henry nodded "I read the dissertation that she did for her Masters: _To what extent can it be argued that the conversion of Christianity sped up the decline and fall of the Roman Empire?_ A very fascinating read although my paper differs greatly to hers in regards to content. The reason for this is _Karacosis wutensis _is the first artificial hybrid in existence."

"Really?" Simon asked in wonder "So this plant is a hybrid of two plants?"

"Four actually. People often think that creating hybrids is as easy as genetically engineering an animal. Normally if you wanted to get a hybrid two closely related animals would have to mate, normally two animals in the same genus, such as a lion and tiger producing a liger. Even then the animal normally is infertile due to having an incorrect number of chromosomes, have a weak immune system and have a short lifespan. In plants seeds might not be produced or the hormone which stimulates growth, auxin, may not be produced either. We couldn't create an artificial hybrid due to the complexity of the DNA sequence. There was no way to blend the DNA of two or more species to create a hybrid."

"I'm assuming you found a way Henry?" Simon asked taking another sip of his lemon tea. He cringed slightly at the strength of the lemon flavoring.

"I did but it was only through the recent scientific progress that it was possible to make this discovery. Attempts to grow plants in the Martian soil have caused some recent advancements in genetic engineering," Simon nodded. Again all down to advancements thanks to space travel. "With that I theorized that I could break apart the DNA strands and reform them of two different species. Similarly to how fertilization happens between two individuals except on a larger scale. The result was this plant here."

"Henry," he asked. It was amazing that he could do this though something was eating him at the back of his mind. "It is truly amazing what you have done. But…is it ethical? You've created a species. It could be seen as playing god."

Henry nodded and placed his glass mug down slowly. His face became sullen and he stared intently at the plant that he had created. The silence in the room could easily allow you to hear a pin drop. Outside the glass walls a gaggle of children were laughing at the antics of the DNA strand.

"I never thought about that," Henry said solemnly "I just thought about how my name would go down in history as the one who progressed genetics. I assumed that people could use my research to produce crops to feed even more people. No need for the food synthesisers. A hybrid that had the growth rate of bamboo, the hardiness of cacti and would produce edible food could allow cheap food to be produced. I never thought about the ramifications. Not even about people abusing it. Have you heard that animal management employee? Oskins that's it. He wants to use dinosaurs in the military; imagine what he'll say about producing hybrid animals bred to hunt in the Tore Bora mountains?"

He shuddered. "No I'll say in the report that only plants can be produced if I do release my report."

Simon had to smile at that. In all his years knowing Henry Wu he had never known the geneticist back down over ethics before. Even when Hammond abandoned cloning extinct animals he still wanted to breed extinct animals through the old method. As of a memo the week prior he had found out that Henry was on the verge of mapping the DNA of an extinct species of mosquito, _Culiseta kishenehen_, which would be possibly bred. Like a bulldog when he had hold of something he never let go except in this case. Maybe getting married and having kids mellowed him.

"Anyway your research has done tonnes of good already," Simon said reassuringly.

"Yes," Henry said perking up "Using the extinct animal DNA we have managed to do amazing things. The blood of the Tyrannosaurus contains a clotting agent which allows them to heal from fighting at a very quick rate. We've used that to hopefully create a drug that will help treat hemophilia. A Triceratops when threatened produces a foul smelling substance that runs down the bristles to deter a carnivore from attacking its hindquarters which we have utilized to create an effective bear repellent…"

Suddenly a voice came on over an intercom: _Ladies and Gentlemen Prehistoric Park has a special announcement. Coming to Isla Nublar is something bigger, louder and more terrifying than Tyrannosaurus. Newly discovered by Paul Serano the South American color changing intelligent carnivore Indominus Rex will be available for public viewing next month. Warning this dinosaur will give the parents nightmares!_

"That's strange. We normally don't announce the arrival of a new animal until months down the line," Henry said in puzzlement "We obtained the _Permian Plains_ animals a good six months before we announced them."

Simon could only nod. Claire Dearing had out this forward. Whether it was for the best or not he didn't know.

_Claire Dearing_

Calm yourself Claire. Do those breathing exercises that Chiyo taught you. In through the nose out through the mouth. Nine people out to be impressed, you can do it as easily as the other pitches. The elevator doors pinged cheerily and slid open.

"Let's do this," she said.

The investors were casually observing the pride of the Natural History Museum: a snarling skeletal Albertosaurus trying to sink its jaws into the hindquarters of an unfortunate Pachyrhinosaurus. Each investor was dressed in smart but casual clothing bearing a clear reminder to her. This meeting was going to be informal but they still had the power here. Nine of them from companies, ranging from Kazuo Hirai of the Sony Corporation to the owners of GoLite clothing, and four from environmentalist/animal rights groups including PETA and WWF. Remember to smile Claire.

"Ladies and Gentlemen. Welcome to Prehistoric Park where extinction does not have to be forever."

She walked them over to a computer screen which depicted fact files and images of Prehistoric Park's various extinct wildlife. It looked as if the screen was actually a part of the gothic style walls but if you looked carefully a small port could be seen. She pulled out a memory stick and placed it in the port allowing an alert reading: _Continue with Classified file: Yes/No_.

"At Prehistoric Park we pride ourselves on rescuing unique and intelligent animals from extinction." They were already won over. She allowed herself a fine smile with satisfaction. Someone of Ed Regis or Jane Power's caliber would have to virtually beg the investors and charities from the start to back them; they lacked the professional air that she gave off effortlessly. "Nigel Marven recently rescued a highly intelligent species long extinct that we believe has intelligence that is on par with chimps. We have constructed an exhibit with natural boundaries that perfectly emulates their exhibit on Isla Nublar. A truly unique animal they are very easy to communicate with, expert stalkers being able to camouflage themselves, a perfect sense of smell and the males have even shown to be protective over their keepers."

Perfect. The investors were chattering away like sparrows. Even the PETA representative was excited; likely due to us having natural large habitats for the creature. This would be the easiest sales pitch ever known. They were already won over.

"Ms Dearing what animal are we talking about exactly? Some extinct cetacean perchance?" the IBM CEO Ginni Rometty asked. Now this was the deal sealer.

"Let me introduce you to them. I would take you to see them but they dislike new people. When we reveal them to the public we will have a secret viewing area so they can live in peace," she explained pressing the screen of the computer. Immediately the screen changed revealing a few security camera feeds and a large image of the animal in question. "Let me introduce you to the Indominus Rex. Measuring 18 meters long and 19 tonnes the Indominus Rex is not only the smartest carnivorous dinosaur but also the largest."

They were staring in shock at the dinosaur. On image showed a still of the pure white hunter splaying its head feathers widely in aggression and its claws elongated trying to grab something. One of the security camera screens showed one of the males parting a tree canopy; his green scales as hard as armor with tiny bristles bursting through were slowly giving way to icy white. His cold green eyes could faintly be seen over the security camera. It gave her shivers down her spine just seeing him over a camera. What was even more unnerving was seeing another forest part as something unseen walked through the branches. When she turned back to the guests their mouths were open with pure shock.

"As investors we cannot announce the arrival of a new species without your say so," Claire said composing herself. The investors rather reluctantly woke themselves from their stupor. "If we announce that in one month guests can watch the Indominus over security feeds will anyone object?"

Everybody nodded their heads. Some were motivated by conservation while others the monetary gains from the Indominus, a few even both, so they were more than willing to let the public know of the Indominus' existence. Another great success.

"Thank you," Claire began again "I will leave you to explore the ultimate wildlife sanctuary."

She left them with a sense of satisfaction on her face. Interest in Prehistoric Park would skyrocket. Paleontologists and environmentalists will flock to Prehistoric Park to see another actual prehistoric habitat with the animals that lived in it. The mainstream public would eagerly see a carnivore larger than T Rex that was also intelligent and could change colour. Its feathers were hardly noticeable so that would pacify the ingrates who viewed Hollywood as the leading source in paleontology over Prehistoric Park and the easy to pronounce name was an added bonus. God forbid a complex name. It was painful to see a five year old say Rhamphorhynchus, Phorusrhacos or Cerrejonisuchus and as a result parents often steered their families away from them to avoid the awkward _'how do you pronounce that?' _questions.

The path to the Control Room went through a small forest which was normally loathsome. Often in the morning you had to avoid stepping on frogs or geckos which had a habit of darting under your feet. The Control Room resembled something of a nuclear fallout shelter that her grandfather had built in his backyard. A hulking formidable building which only a direct bomb blast could remotely dent. The door was even of a thick metal that sometimes refused to budge. Today it gave way easily allowing her to immediately walk along the blue carpet. It swerved around to a collection of computer screens which had people frantically typing away. All the computers faced a large screen portraying a map of Prehistoric Park with various statistics and side security cameras flashing on and off occasionally. Either the keepers, Animal Security Force or the General Security Unit would have the majority of the security cameras but Control got the spare. A precautionary measure advised by the mathematician Ian Malcolm. To avoid over-stimulus the Control Room would take over some cameras which would be changed with the others at half hour intervals. That way it would avoid boredom looking at the same screen all the time which could cause someone to miss something.

Everyone had their own little working space. The chief engineer and by default head of the Control Room John Ray Arnold had everything nice and orderly on his desk: a photo from his time in the US Navy, his family photo, various highly detailed diagrams of park attractions and ordinance survey maps showing the different exhibits. In contrast Lowry had pieces of paper strewn across the place with the occasional empty sweet wrapper or soda can, miniature plastic toy dinosaurs lining the edge of his desk and the latest comic book or manga loaned from Chiyo Ishado's extensive collection slapped on his hard drive. At least Lowry kept his desk as _'organised chaos'_. He was devoted to his work. Dennis Nedry meanwhile had stacks of programming algorithms written on paper stacked unceremoniously on one end of his desk while on the other end there were stacks of eaten food wrappers and drinks cans that had accumulated over weeks. Nedry was by every definition a slob.

"How did it go?" one of the operators, a woman named Vivian Krill, asked. Vivian was a less zealous mixture of Arnold's cleanliness and Lowry's devotion to the job.

"The investors have given the go-ahead to announce the Indominus."

"Might as well let them chose what animals we have," Lowry said grumpily. One that that Lowry shared with Chiyo Ishado was their view on nature and business: business should steer well away from nature unless trying to preserve it. "No wonder Nigel can't stand dealing with them…Hey Gyrosphere 7 away from the Torosaurus!"

On one of the screens there was camera footage from the Gyrosphere itself. Quite clearly in the distance the long curved frill of a Torosaurus could be seen flashing a dangerous red color. Over the intercom some giggles could be heard.

"Listen here you little shi…"

"Lowry language," Claire warned.

"Super awesome guests," Lowry said with a grimace. She had to admit that he did swerve offending the guests well at that moment. "Our Torosaurus and Triceratops are very aggressive and do not tolerate Gyrospheres in their territory. At Prehistoric Park your safety is our number one concern so we advise you to stay away from them."

"There are supposed to be programming that stops you going near the Trike and Toro territories! Why did we just have that problem?" She was irate. This was supposed to be a professional park with order. With so many other problems this was unacceptable.

"We've had problems regarding that," John Arnold informed her taking out another pack of nicotine gum. Instead of just chewing one slip he took out three. The smoking ban was paying a large toll on him. "The Trikes and Toros often move around while they eat. It's like what Dr Malcolm said 'life finds a way'. Nigel knows most about them and he even said there's no point fretting over it; the units are always on the move. There's no point trying to fret over it. What you need to worry about is the other problems that _somebody _has yet to complete."

He gave Dennis Nedry a look which could have curdled milk. Meanwhile oblivious to Arnold's angry looks Nedry typed away on his computer.

"The motion cameras do not work half the time by the rivers," he said this while ticking the issues off on his fingers "the motion cameras keep getting set off by the rising heat waves in the Pterosaur and Argentavis aviaries, the sensor bands that we give to guests sometimes do not work when wet or get disrupted by the mountains on Nublar and Sorna, the gates allowing the Gyrospheres to enter and exit exhibits sometimes don't sense that they are there or won't close after them thinking they are still there! Just last week a Hypsilophodon to get out briefly. Unexpected things like logs and branches keep obscuring the sensors which stop the Wrangler narration to change track. We had David Attenborough go from talking about Apatosaurus straight to Ankylosaurus even though they had passed the Allosaurs without any narration. We still don't have firewall protection against hackers for the system. The lights on Isla Tacano sometimes do not come on as they should at 10 pm and sometimes they refuse to turn off at 7 am. Not to mention problems with the animals."

"Hey I'm overworked," Nedry said suddenly in a defensive voice "Do you think this work is easy? You are using one of the most advanced systems in the world with some of the most advanced technology. You want me to fix all them _and _create another system to for guests to view your new dinosaurs over security for next month. It's not cheap mind you as well!"

"Dennis your debts have nothing to do with us," John Arnold spat bitterly "Nigel has given you in the past massive bonuses if you fix a problem and he said he will continue to do so. He gave you a grand just getting the lighting fixed in the underwater walkway that passes through the orthocone exhibit. Get on with your job and with the bigger problems you might even get more."

Claire felt frustrated. That slob was already on considerable money and now he was getting even more for fixing problems that were not even supposed to happen to start with if his system had worked. Nigel was too soft. He always saw Dennis as the unfortunate person who life always did over but he never saw how Dennis spent the money. Flashy cars, dinner at the biggest restaurants and luxurious holidays. Never mind his seemingly never ending debt from bank loans which financed his poorly ran computing businesses. He was smart but lacked any common sense; or organisation. She needed something to calm her down. In disgust at Nedry's actions Arnold had even popped in another two nicotine gum strips. She grabbed herself a coffee from the machine ready for the rest of the day.

"What is happening in the park today?" she asked composing herself.

"Visitor count at 3,500 and the next boat will be arriving at 11:00am pushing the number up to 3,660," Vivian informed her coolly "Three down with heatstroke and one child missing but one of the Neanderthals from the Yuruk tribe almost immediately returned the child to the parents. Bar the 50 who have the day off all staff are accounted for. The Ocean Tour is just passing Great Auk and Steller's Sea Cow Rock. The only scheduled feeding show is in the Stethacanthus and Cladoselache Tank in 5,4,3,2,1." Vivian pressed a button which now would be giving an announcement that would ring out in the aquarium that feeding time for the sharks had begun.

"I think it is time to announce our new dinosaur," Claire said. Somebody further down the line of computers pressed a button and an announcement rang around them:_ Ladies and Gentlemen Prehistoric Park has a special announcement. Coming to Isla Nublar is something bigger, louder and more terrifying than Tyrannosaurus. Newly discovered by Paul Serano the South American color changing intelligent carnivore Indominus Rex will be available for public viewing next month. Warning this dinosaur will give the parents nightmares! _That would get guest revenue up. In her left pocket her phone buzzed. Her sister's face was beaming up at her. Now what did she want?

"Hi Karen," she said trying to sound cheerful "How you doing?"

"Alright considering," Karen was currently going through a bitter divorce "Scott's divorce lawyers have been pressing down on me recently. I just want to get this all over and done with. For some god forsaken reason the lawyers are pressing for us to sign the divorce papers and get everything done by Christmas. Probably want a hefty sum of money for the New Year. Zach doesn't seem to have noticed but I think Gray might have; you know he's always been alert. Anyway I was calling for a favor."

"Sure I'll help," the words were out her mouth before she could stop them. Please not let it be help her actually get the divorce, she was never good at dealing with family trauma.

"I want the boys out of the way for about a week while the divorce papers are getting signed. Me and Scott would probably be arguing a lot by then and I don't want them to see it. Could you get a deal or something for them to go to Prehistoric Park for a week? It'll be good if you could. You'll be able to see them again, Zach towers over me now, and the boys might even get along for a week."

"I should be able to. Nigel is always sympathetic to family problems so…heck tell them now that they can go. I might be unable to spend all my time with them because we've literally just announced the arrival of a new animal."

Her sister likely didn't hear the last sentence through her mixture of tears and thanks. What had she let herself into?

_Nigel Marven_

All this administrative jargon was draining. At least he didn't have much to do. How much he would give again on a rescue mission. The Indominus mission reignited the dying light that was in his heart. Going through the portal to the past, seeing a world long vanished, and seeing a great and beautiful animal in its natural habitat. In reinvigorated him. Although he still loved his managerial job he needed that mission to relight his fire. And what an animal. The Indominus was truly a perfect animal. Highly intelligent to communicate with other members of its species and even evolving camouflage to evade members of its own species.

There was a squawk and a giggle which snapped him from his reminiscence. His twelve year old son Theo and seven year old daughter Eleonora were throwing berries to a glossy black microraptor. Theo was even daring to throw grubs to the raptor. Each time it jumped up to grab the thrown food it made a squawking noise which made them laugh. Over the last month the microraptors had developed extremely glossy feathers for the winter. That way the sun would reflect more off of them so a large carnivore would not eat them as easily. Over the intercom a voice rang out: _Ladies and Gentlemen Prehistoric Park has a special announcement. Coming to Isla Nublar is something bigger, louder and more terrifying than Tyrannosaurus. Newly discovered by Paul Serano the South American color changing intelligent carnivore Indominus Rex will be available for public viewing next month. Warning this dinosaur will give the parents nightmares!_

"You've announced them early," his wife Gill said in surprise. He nodded in agreement. Normally they waited a long time to announce the arrival of a new species but this was strange. Likely Claire that thought the park could get extra revenue by using the cameras. She would likely have had the public immediately seeing them in their enclosures like with the rest of the park but he had put his foot down at that. They were highly intelligent animals and letting the public see them, even after a month, would overstimulate them.

"Dad can we go see them?" Theo asked excitedly.

"You best ask your mum. My judgement on what's safe and what's not isn't very good," he said with a smile. The number of large carnivores was perfectly evident to that.

"Of course you can. Only if you can see them if they can camouflage themselves," she replied smiling. He grabbed Bessie the Boa Constrictor and placed her in her tank. It was unlikely that she would catch a microraptor but he didn't want to run the risk. The microraptor ran off the edge of his desk and glided down into the Yixian Forest. It was a large forest that was separated from the rest of the park by a slim bit of fencing and a large moat. Normally a green splendour the forest was now white for the winter with a line of snow. It was always strange how the atmospheric generators would allow this forest to be covered by snow and just meters away there would be a tropical flourishing forest. He could see a Beipiaosaurus snuffling around a termite mound; once a dark brown now pure white.

He walked with his family down the steps leading from his office. The stairs crossed the five meter wide moat which separated the Yixian Forest from the rest of Isla Nublar. A Jeholosaurus covered in bristles looked at them from the other side of the moat before running off. It was a bright day, slightly chilly through the annual winter fog, but overall a nice day. Eleonora ran ahead laughing trying to catch a gecko which was scurrying around pebbles on the pavement.

"I think it's about feeding time for the big female Indy," he said to Gill. She blanched after that. Quite often seeing the big carnivores tear apart its food often could put you off your meal. The Indominus enclosure was coming up ahead. Soon where he stood they would be building the security centre for guests to see the pale dinosaurs. Like over large theropods adult Indominus could not jump so a small chasm was only needed. The smaller male Domino could jump small distances but the chasm was too wide for him to jump. The only part of the enclosure not surrounded by the chasm was a small section of fencing. Looming ahead was a silver structure that was partially in the enclosure and part out. To access it you had to climb a small set of stairs.

"Do we have to go up there?" Gill asked.

"Yeah. It's the safest way to see the female."

They climbed up the stairs and entered the structure. Bob was happily staring out of the window which looked into the forest. Nigel's kids immediately ran up to Bob and hugged him as he bustled over them with his thick moustache twitching. He gave Gill a light kiss on her cheek before cheerily patting Nigel on the back.

"How is she Bob?" he asked.

"Beautiful just beautiful. Not as sociable as Ido or Domino and much more aggressive."

"Did she do that?" Gill asked with her voice cracking.

On the far side of the glass there were deep slashes against the surface. Something with long sharp claws had tried to break in. Now he was definitely glad that he had put his foot down. Just imagine if Indy had done that with some guests watching her? It would be like a kid looking through a lunch box.

"Yeah," Bob replied with his voice cracking slightly "She's smarter than the other two. We've had to feed her a new way that's not as natural. She remembered where handlers sent out the food and tried to have a few appetisers. One almost lost an arm."

"Where is she dad?" Eleonora asked "Is she hiding?"

"She is," Nigel said "Hey do you two want to feed her using our special way?"

They started yelling cries of yes. He took them to a small control panel with a large red button. They eagerly pressed the button allowing a crane to drop down a chunk of meat which hung in thin air. For some reason nothing arrived to feast upon the carrion. Bob tapped on the glass.

"Come on Indy!" he yelled "You have company. They have a good sense of smell so we probably should have got something strong smell…Ah here she comes."

The trees parted but nothing was there. Then he saw her outline. Her skin turned from the dark green of the foliage to a pale white. It was a scary sight to behold. She looked through the glass at them, piercing them with her green eyes, before tearing the meat off of the crane with her jaws of death. As he looked into her eyes he wondered had Prehistoric Park overextended itself?


	13. The Gates of Hell Open

The Gates of Hell Open

Saying that Isla Nublar was a tropical island in the middle of the Pacific Ocean it was bitterly cold. Late autumn for Isla Nublar did not issue in snow and ice but rather freezing fog and roaring winds which pierced you like a hundred knives. As he passed a few ferns a snarling statue of a winged serpent leered at him, causing him to virtually jump out of his skin. That earned a laugh from Winston and Maria. _Los Cincos Muertas y Nublar_ had long lost statues left by the Matazamas dotted all around, he thanked god that most of them were cornered off or otherwise he would have had many more shocks. Only the ones deemed to have less historical or archaeological significance were cornered off so most people could not get to them. A shiver always went down his spine when he thought that the mass grave was located nearby the Head and Deputy Keepers Office.

"After you've stopped crapping yourself at old statues," Winston taunted "I'll finish what I was saying. When is Chiyo's girlfriend arriving?"

"Yesterday." Maria replied ruffling Jordan's hair. "She isn't doing work experience this time so Charlotte's tailing Chiyo for her holiday. Chiyo told me she's eager to see the Indominus."

"Everyone's eager to see the Indominus. Just we can't see them ourselves." Winston laughed as a reply. Prehistoric Park's marketing department was having a difficult time advertising the new arrivals. Apparently the I Rex would camouflage themselves whenever someone tried to film them or photograph them, the only way so far to get a glimpse of them was over CCTV. Bob had told them the other day that the marketing department had nicknamed them 'Nessie, Bigfoot and Mothman' because you could only see them on normally blurry footage.

They came up to the fence requiring a keycard to enter which Jordan lazily swiped. He wanted to get inside the office as soon as possible. It may be lacking in facilities, had coffee which tasted like muddy piss and every mug had a chip in it but the office was blissfully warm unlike this icy fog. Looking through the grey condensation he wondered what it would be like to see an Indominus slinking through the cold right now. Their icy white beauty and unnerving grace for such a large creature would make the fog their natural ally. Maria slid the door open and the warmth banished his fantasies of a fog Indominus. Zhun was happily chatting away with Saeed who seemed half asleep in his coffee, most likely oblivious to what she was saying. Winston slipped into the kitchen where he started making three new cups of coffee to wake them from their morning grogginess. Maria was giggling looking at the Animal Wall. The Animal Wall had a photo of every animal species in the park to put it in Bob's words _'make the room look less like it did when the Germans were here'_. Chiyo had told him that the Germans had not built anything inland but he liked the joke regardless.

"I like the photo of Indy. Zhun was this your idea?" Maria asked.

"Nah it was Winston's."

He started laughing himself. It wasn't that funny but sometimes the least funny things made you laugh the most. The label that read '_Indominus Rex'_ did not show the white dinosaur. Instead it showed the famous photo of the hoax Loch Neck Monster with its black neck arching out the water. Adding to the effect was that photos of Cryptoclidus, Futabusaurus and Elasmosaurus bordered that of the 'Indominus'. Conor gave the photo a small rare smile of approval when he entered and Mary chortled happily. Uncharacteristically though Bob bustled in red in the face rustling his greying moustache.

He started grumbling as he pulled out his tablet that would give everyone their rota for the day. "Yesterday was dire and all about the Indominus. Seems that Indy's tactic of camouflaging herself and bursting from the forest during feeding time has scared her keepers to death. Took me an hour and a half to convince them to stay on. Then we constantly have problems with the Paddock Supervisor. Seems that he keeps forgetting that the I Rex can camouflage themselves from thermal imagery. We need to tell Control to disconnect the thermal detectors."

"Why did they develop the ability to hide from thermal imagery?" Zhun asked.

"To hide from a bigger I Rex," Jordan explained taking another sip of his coffee. Something he immediately regretted. It had quickly become common knowledge in Prehistoric Park and the paleontological community that the strong hide, intelligence, camouflage and thermal imagery evasion exhibited by the Indominus were down to avoiding becoming a meal for a larger one by any means necessary.

Bob took another look at his tablet. "Okay let's see here. Mary and Maria you're on feeding duty and general observation today; I'll give you your targets shortly. Jordan you're with me and feeding duty and observation. Conor you're on clean up with the Alamosaurus. Winston later on either Suzanne or Gerry at the vets will need you to move the cave bear and dodo. They still want to do some checks on both, especially with the dodo cos we don't want bumblefoot spreading among the dodos, so keep your ears open. In the meantime just help some keepers whenever possible. Saeed to the Matanceros River Tour to look out at the Baryonyx. They're getting a wee bit cocky around the boat. Finally Zhun your job is overseeing the Predator X. They're migrating to the winter area and it would be hell if one swam lose. Okay everyone let's role!"

There were a series of scrapping metal noises as everyone pushed back their chairs. Winston whispered about helping a new keeper get acquainted with the animals of the Carboniferous House. Having a secret love life while working at Prehistoric Park was as easy as smuggling a fully grown Apatosaurus off of the island chain. Stepping outside the warmth of the office drained instantly from him. Rubbing his arms he chased after Bob who was briskly walking through the fog as if it was a beach in the Caribbean. Most likely working in the fogs of Isla Nublar for about two years got you acclimatised to the iciness of it. The balding head keeper slid his headset on and stopped in his tracks.

"Looks like we'll have a bit of a situation tonight Jordan my friend," he said glumly shaking his head "Control just told us a storm is heading towards the park and it doesn't look like it will change course. Oh don't worry it isn't a cyclone or whatever the proper name is. Costa Rica rarely gets them anyway and we're protected from any bad storm with that volcanic ring surrounding all the islands."

He nodded in relief. One thing that worried him the most about moving to Prehistoric Park ironically was not dinosaurs. Yes they were an underlying danger regardless, even ones viewed as being placid by the public like Ankylosaurus. It was weather itself which filled him with trepidation. You could run and hide from an escapee animal but you could not run from a flood or the roar of a tropical storm. It wasn't exactly weather but he had been petrified when there was an earthquake a month ago. Maria had found it very strange that the fearless keeper who would tackle Irish Elk at breakfast and Smilodon at night was scared of one of the regular earthquakes which hit the park. Not even finding out that through well designed buildings and the rarity of earthquakes over 6 on the Richter scale had calmed his nerves.

"This one is said to be a big storm," Bob continued absentmindedly as they stepped onto the monorail "Supposed to hit about nine at night but our volcanic wall will act as like a giant windbreaker. Don't worry Jordan we get these all the time. In fact just before we opened a big storm hit but no one got hurt. Took a while to clean up all the strewn about leaves though."

He slumped into the nearest seat watching the world flash underneath him. His fear of intense weather probably stemmed from when he was about nine or ten. On holiday while on a cruise in the Lesser Antilles with his sister and parents he saw the very edge of Hurricane Erika. He had been so excited because he got to go out of school for a week on holiday only to hear the angry roar of a god churning up the sea around the resort. Erika had skipped the islands but he would never forget the tranquil blue sea turn into a maw of ink black and the palm trees sway in the wind as if they were being shaken by an angry giant. All that night he had hugged Amy for protection. Ever since he had wished never to see the actual full force of a hurricane or any natural disaster; the brush with the very edge of one had terrified him too much. He shook his head to get the nasty images of nature's fury at its lightest out of his mind.

Looking outside the window he could see a Triceratops with her frill a deadly crimson in colour, shaking her massive horns to and fro. _They can sense the storm coming_. Coming from a humid climate and living between the equator and Tropic of Cancer the dinosaur was probably used to the regular storms. Probably thought they were a nuisance although then again Triceratops were not renowned for their intelligence. The fact that they only raised the first egg to hatch not realising that there were others yet to hatch. Down below two babies were pretend wrestling with their horns being little more than stubs. To think that in the wild most of them would have to somehow tail an Ankylosaurus or Euoplocephalus to avoid the jaws of a Troodon or Tyrannosaurus. Quickly the monorail darted forward leaving Hell Creek behind. Quickly the large white plastic domes of the Carboniferous House loomed ahead like a great monolith.

"What is our job today in the House?" Jordan asked.

"Checking the pH of Crassigyrinus Lake and feeding the early reptiles."

Outside the House the fog it was bitterly cold inside it was almost too warm. The mugginess of the atmosphere as well created a sharp contrast between outside and inside. All around there was a faint buzzing noise from the vibrant wings of giant dragonflies. Great scaly trees grew so high that they almost scrapped the plastic dome's roof and ferns dwarfing cars were eagerly spreading their fronds onto the stone pavement. A waterfall cascaded clear refreshing water down into a murky lake where skeletal hands of fallen trees poked out from the water like a drowning man trying to surface for breath. Jordan looked through the glass wall to see one of the salamander like amphibians slowly swim through the roots of a mangrove.

"Okay be careful what you're doing here Jordan. We don't want any lost fingers."

The mud squelched uncomfortably under his boots as he and Bob dipped some test tubes in the water, constantly looking for the tell-tale splashes of a Crassigyrinus swimming towards them. When properly filled Bob took them to what seemed to be like a chemistry set. Bob filled another two tubes with some brine and using two pipettes placed three drops of the lake water into the brine tube. He shook them for a few seconds which turned them a dark green colour.

"About pH 7," Bob concluded "Good the water is fine."

They exited the Crassigyrinus exhibit to find the early reptiles. However they could not pass up the chance to 'encourage' Winston's romance efforts. Winston was in a small thicket barricaded from the public by a glass wall chatting to a Dutch keeper with short mousy brown hair. He had something in his hand which was currently concealed behind a large fern. Jordan knocked loudly on the glass causing Winston to jump out of his skin. He started shaking his hand as well for a large taupe coloured scorpion with a bright red stinger started scuttling away from him. This earned a laugh from the other keeper as Winston shouted something about claws.

"Good thing the Pulmonoscorpius didn't sting him!" Bob laughed. They continued on through the House to the low lying wall of the early reptile exhibit. Scattered throughout were dead logs which the lizard like reptiles often would hide in. A Petrolacosaurus was casually lying on top of one of the logs, resting peacefully under the warm lights of their exhibit. Feeding the Hylonomus and Petrolacosaurus was a simply procedure. When he was young he had a pet gecko and once a week he had to put a few crickets into the gecko's terrarium. It was the same deal except that millipedes, cockroaches and beetles were added to the mixture. As they were leaving he saw a small Hylonomus bring its dark green head out of a hole, snatch a passing millipede and dart back into its hiding place.

The rest of the day passed without exception. The giant sloths Megatherium gladly set upon the cow carcass that they gave them. Megatherium had a strange habit where they would only scavenge off of kills made by a carnivore so normally any meat left by the Smilodon were given to the sloths to supplement their diet. However all the animals seemed restless today. The Megatherium continuously slammed the earth with their strong front arms while making low grunting noises, the Yutyrannus were hissing at every object that remotely swayed in the wind and even animals in the Aquarium were acting odd. The Devonian sharks Stethacanthus and Cladoselache were swimming constantly around in the same loop.

"They can sense the storm," Bob muttered "Their sixth sense as it were. Gonna be a big one."

They were standing on a railing overlooking Carbonemys Rapids. One of the large turtles was busy burying itself into the soft mud at the edge of the water. The glossy grey shell was being taken over by the glutinous mud of the riverbank. The hours drifted aimlessly by and as they reached their last job for the day it was already five in the afternoon. As the monorail thundered over the narrow sea between Nublar and Sorna he could tell something was amiss. The Basilosaurus would often swim close to the coast of one of the two islands but today he could see the narrow, knife like silhouette of a primeval whale clearly in the deep ocean. The _Red Beds _would be his last stop for today.

"My favourite next," he said smiling. The park's Dimetrodon had a special place in his heart. Before he had joined the park staff Dimetrodon had been his favourite extinct animal and a Dimetrodon skull had been the pride and place of his fossil collection. Not keeping up with paleontology he had not realised how different real Dimetrodon were from his initial view of them being a komodo dragon with a sail. Real ones stood upright, were a mixture of endo and ectotherms, the sail was actually a hump where a few spines were even visible on individuals poking out through the fat, a small layer of hair covered them (hardly visible most of the time) and they primarily were fishermen. Prehistoric Park always liked to throw a curve ball at your expectations of extinct life.

"You guys your favourite is back!" Bob cried out to the Dimetrodon. They were currently hugging the earth looking like hump back monitor lizards instead of their normal stance. Curiously they were not near the water at all; normally the Dimetrodon were constantly diving in and out of the water. They too could sense the storm. One looked at them and gave a grunt before he went back staring blankly at a stone.

With the Dimetrodon lethargic they decided to feed them immediately. The hut that keepers used for the Dimetrodon adjoined the lake that the pelycosaurs swam in. Inside there was a boat which they filled to the brim with fish, two small seats allowed them to steer the boat. At the best of times this could be precarious, Mary had told him a story of how a Dimetrodon had tipped the boat over when she was feeding them once forcing her to swim to safety, although with the stupor the Dimetrodon were in today the danger was greatly minimised. They hardly paid attention to Bob and Jordan when the boat bobbed out over the water. Not even when they threw fish in did they bother to move.

"Hey you guys!" a voice shouted in a fairly broad Scottish accent. He and Bob turned around but the Dimetrodon remained in their positions. Chiyo was beaming next to Charlotte dressed head to toe in black sticking her tongue out at them, her tongue bar glistening slightly thanks to the dimming sunlight. Bob waved and took the boat back through to the hut.

"How have you been doing?" Charlotte asked hugging both of them at once. Unlike her last visit she wore a black hoodie bearing locations of an _Asking Alexandria _tour.

"We've been great. Amy though might want your head because Dani keeps asking for a tongue bar like yours!" Jordan answered laughing. That had definitely been one awkward phone call.

"You can tell her my mum feels the same way. She had a major bitch fit when she found out. I was going to get a tattoo as well, after her rant I'm glad that I didn't now. You guys finished?"

"Indeed we have," Bob nodded "I know let's go to the new restaurant on Nublar. That Winston's. It serves mainly steak but it's got loads of veggie options for you Chiyo."

Winston's Steak House had become a little joke among the Prehistoric Park staff. Winston had joked that for his tireless service they had finally named something after him, turns out it was John Hammond's tribute to someone he once knew, while others joked that calling it a steak house was a very loose term considering it served more seafood than steaks. Sitting on the monorail he could hear the wind violently whistle around the train. Ominous grey clouds were engulfing the fading sun as in the distance towers of thundering clouds were pressing closer to the volcanic wall surrounding the mountains. A single small boat was bobbing through the gap between the walls looking like it would be violently smashed by nature's fury.

"Does everyone have spare coats?" Bob asked looking over at the storm.

"Oh crap no. I thought it would be like it was last time I came. This jumper's Chiyo's not mine," Charlotte moaned which made Chiyo laugh.

"Don't worry I've got spare cagoules in my office. I bought loads thinking that on the missions some would get damaged but none did," Chiyo then slapped her head with her palm. "Damn. I left my book in my office as well."

It was decided that a trip to Chiyo's office would precede the trip to Winston's. He knew that you had to pass Control to get to her office, or as Chiyo nicknamed it NORAD. The sea outside was swirling in anger as the winds picked up which buffeted unfortunate gulls caught out on the wing. One of the Temnodontosaurus jumped from the roaring waves and got blown back as it landed in the water. Faintly he could make out Zhun on her yacht, a scary notion to think that somewhere below her one of the largest jaws in history was lurking. Black waters gave way to land as they darted over Isla Muerta. Prehistoric Park's herd of Argentinosaurus seemed blissfully unaware of what was heading towards them; whether through their large size making them fearless of storms or their low intelligence. Just then over the intercom a voice started speaking in several languages.

**Attention Prehistoric Park guests: a storm is approaching an island. At 19:00 a storm is expected to hit Prehistoric Park. We do not expect it to be serious but we advise you to stay indoors if you feel unsafe.**

"Seven?" Bob asked in puzzlement "I was told nine! Well it's like what Dr Malcolm says: _you can't predict nature_. Speaking of him I believe he at the park today with his kid, stepdaughter and their friend."

Another voice came through his headset: _Attention Prehistoric Park staff. This is John Arnold. Dennis Nedry has informed us that a few fences may go offline while he reboots the system. Nothing to worry about. Be wary of the storm as well. We don't think that it'll be bad but be careful anyway._

He was put at ease somewhat. Control had recognised that the storm could shake some people up and had tried to put them at rest. His heart rate had started to drop back at an acceptable level when the monorail stopped outside Control. He and Chiyo got off and vowed to meet the other two at Winston's later. Chiyo was definitely right about Control; the foreboding metal entrance built straight into the side of the mountain looked eerily like NORAD. He wondered whether you could safely wade out a nuclear apocalypse in there. Multiple people waved to Chiyo as they entered the Control Room. John Arnold was sipping a steaming cup of coffee, Nedry was informing a few new technicians about solving bugs in the software and Lowry clumsily stood up from his desk knocking over a bin sending its contents spilling everywhere earning reproachful looks from others. He hastily handed Chiyo some manga in a large black book reading _Death Note _on the front and some comics with _Guardians of the Galaxy _on the top. Robert Muldoon was mumbling something about safety as he took a sip from a hip flask watching a screen with Wranglers on it. Claire Dearing was talking to two people who clearly seemed to be Lex and Tim Murphy.

"…2,000 guests today. The storm has reduced the count slightly but ever since we announced the I Rex…"

Chiyo took him past the Control Room to a corridor with rows of doors bearing names. He saw _Nima Cruz: Public Safety, Robert Muldoon: Animal Management, Robert Arthur: Head Keeper, Suzanne McNab: Head Vet _and finally _Chiyo Ishado: Deputy Manager and Park Historian_. She swiped a key card over where the lock normally would be and the door slid open. Almost immediately she came back out bearing four cagoules, her rucksack and her 'book', (a tome would be the better word).

"Let's go."

By the time they had reached Winston's the storm had properly picked up. The wind was whistling through the Main Street like an ethereal spirit as the trees violently shook back as if some unseen person was trying to uproot them. Unpleasant memories of Erika came back to him. It was almost six but the sky was as black as the night. Golden lights coming from shops and restaurants glistened at them through the wind. As soon as they entered Winston's all that reminded them of the gale outside was the faint whistling noise that barely could be heard over the gaggle of people and sizzles of steak. Bob called over to them which shocked a waiter so much that he almost dropped his platter of food.

"Okay a beer for Jordan, a beer for me, a beer for Charlotte and an orange juice for Chiyo. I know everyone likes calamari so I got us some as well," Bob said handing each of them their drink.

"I wanted a rum and coke but they don't serve hard drinks until later," Charlotte said glumly while Chiyo pulled out her book. Winston's had a pleasant atmosphere with families talking to one another in a multitude of languages, young teenage couples were laughing at their exploits earlier that day and a large television in the corner telling people about Prehistoric Park.

"Someone turn Sky Sports on I'm missing t' Euro play offs!" a man with a broad Yorkshire accent laughed with his wife and kids.

The door opened revealing a roar of the wind. It had gotten stronger. Nigel himself walked in beaming earning himself a series of claps and cheers of approval from multiple guests. As soon as he spotted the four of them he ran up and sat down, although when he tried to take a piece of calamari Bob slapped his hand earning a few laughs.

"Let me guess we've got a situation here." Bob groaned.

"Bingo. With the storm hitting and some of the systems going offline it's been decided that we should call guests back to their complex and any staff that doesn't interact with the animals. With you guys being keepers and because Chiyo is super-awesome," This caused Chiyo's face to turn as dark red as her hair. "I thought it would be best if you guys help round up stray guests."

"Hey can I come?" Charlotte asked eagerly.

"Sure. It'll be an adventure and everyone needs an adventure. Stay close to Chiyo though when we go out. I think in the next ten minutes cos Dennis said that's when some of the systems might shut off. Control should have sent word out by know informing everyone. We'll stay in this group until we find other keepers then we'll split up. Better to find more people that way!"

Jordan could feel the bile build up at the back of his throat. He felt like vomiting. _No you need to stay strong. Anyway you're going to be with the others!_ The TV had changed topic so now it was discussing Dilophosaurus: _With their weak jaws they largely eat fish but when the opportunity arises they will swipe at herbivores like Anchisaurus with their strong forearms. Luckily for Prehistoric Park's Anchisaurus they are separated from our Dil…_

Blackness suddenly enveloped the building. A few screams rang out but there was largely silence. The grill fires had vanished in a puff of wind, the TV gone perfectly silent and even the whir of the ceiling fans had stopped. It was as if an EMP had been launched at the park. Quickly faint orbs of gold filled the room as candles were lit to vanquish the darkness.

"Don't worry everyone!" Nigel's voice rang out. "The storm must have tripped the circuits. Nothing to fear. Please continue with your meals and I apologise to anyone who's had their meal disturbed. For safety reasons please do not pass the Perimeter Fence but feel free to go around Main Street!"

"I can't read in this level of light," Chiyo said glumly.

"I think it's best if we start looking for guests now," Nigel said to which everyone agreed. If the lights went out now somewhere in the park a guest caught out would definitely be fearful. He dreaded to imagine seeing a Tyrannosaurus surrounded by darkness during a storm. As soon as he stepped out of Winston's he thanked god for Chiyo's cagoule. With the wind roaring a tempest heavy droplets of rain had become almost horizontal. Chiyo placed a soft hand on his arm.

"I know you're scared but you've got us. We'll make sure you're safe." He nodded with gratitude. Something was amiss though. Before all the buildings had amber light glowing from their windows but now there was a deathly darkness.

"Looks like the storm has tripped the circuits here as well." Nigel announced shielding his eyes from the torrential rain. Jordan could see a soggy leaf get caught among the ribs of the Spinosaurus model skeleton with it flapping in the wind. "Someone in the Control Room should flick the circuits back on soon anyway. Come on guys let's go help some guests!"

"How about a team name?" Bob laughed over the scream of the storm. "Chiyo can you think of any good comic book teams that we could pilfer the name of?"

"How about Suicide Squad? Going out in this weather is suicidal. The Avengers, Hulkbusters, BPRD, X-Force…"

"X-Force." Nigel said. "I like it. Come on X-Force let's go help people."

The wind battered them relentlessly. An ominous sight was before them though. Normally bright red and blue lights atop the Perimeter Fence indicated to them that it was turned on. Those lights were now turned off. Nigel seemed unfazed by it and merely opened the security gate that everyone had to pass through to enter the park.

"Dennis said some of the fences might turn off. Nothing to worry about. Dennis is a professional he'll get it done!"

He and Bob shared the same look of uncertainty. Nigel's blind optimism and care free attitude to most things in life had led to some unfortunate situations. They passed through the door in the Perimeter Fence and through the second gate. On the other side of the Perimeter Fence the storm seemed ever so much more volatile and mysterious with the trees shaking violently ahead of them. Not a single one of the lights on the side of the pavements was on, darkness had engulfed the park.

"We should check the areas with the most popular animals first. There will bound to be more guests in those areas!" Chiyo yelled. Outside the Perimeter Fence the rustling of more trees added to the noise of the wind and rain.

The closest two areas were _Morrison Formation _and _Hell Creek_ but each boasted Prehistoric Park's most famous residents. _Morrison Formation _exhibited Apatosaurus, Diplodocus and Stegosaurus while _Hell Creek _boasted Triceratops and Tyrannosaurus. Allosaurus was largely overshadowed by the Rex while Ankylosaurus was normally overshadowed by the Trikes. Nigel had decided that for now splitting up to be out of the question (he wanted to know that people were safe until they met other people). With the large _Jurassic Heights _exhibit it was decided that they should begin their search there. Relentlessly they stormed through torrential wind and rain shouting for anyone nearby. It proved fruitless with their voices being swept away by the wind like driftwood in a current.

"What's that?" Charlotte asked. A shape was before them. It was long and about half a fully grown human's height. Suddenly it hopped towards them making a strange twittering noise. A twittering noise he recognised. It was a Dryosaurus but what was it doing outside _Jurassic Heights_?

"I have a feeling a tree has been blown over." Bob sighed. "We try and reduce the amount of fencing but we still need a bit of it. The wind probably took down a tree and took down the fencing. Can you two remember just before the mission to save animals after the meteorite had hit? Big storm did exactly the same thing and a Hypsilophodon got out!"

Nigel tore a nearby fern from the earth and waved it in front of the Dryosaurus. It chirruped happily at the sight of the fern and hopped towards Nigel. It was so close that he could see the bristles running across it. An area of fencing was nearby as well as the gate to the exhibit. It was a simple plan: lure the Dryosaurus with the fern, get it back through the gate and report where the tree had fallen. Except they had found a problem. There was no tree. Instead the gate itself was wide open.

"What the hell is going on?" Charlotte asked as the Dryosaurus darted through the open gate. Jordan saw that the blue and orange lights which normally flashed on top of the fence were off. _What the hell? _At Control if the power was running to the fence they could open and close it at will. It had been explained to him during his first week when doing his rounds; _'learn as you do' _as everyone at the park said.

"Who the opened this thing?" Bob asked walking towards the gate complaining about irresponsibility and taking jokes too far. Nigel was talking to someone over his headset. Luckily the gates could be manually closed and locked but locking had always been a difficulty. He and Bob closed the gates but opted not to lock them; other animals native to _Jurassic Heights _could still be out the exhibit and none inside could open the gates.

"I can't get through to Control there's only static!" Nigel said and Chiyo repeated the same thing when he talked about getting hold of others. _How many systems had gone down? _Who thought it would be funny to open the _Jurassic Heights _gates as well? Yes it contained herbivores but the Stegosaurus were often very territorial and the sauropods often did not notice where they placed their feet.

"We should get to the Allosaurs. I want to make sure they're actually in!" Chiyo said over the wind. Frantically they ran to the Allosaur enclosure hoping beyond hope that they were in. An Allosaurus lose in the park with guests only could mean a blood bath.

"Fuck!" Charlotte cried. The gates were wide open. Bob and Nigel frantically closed the colossus gates as Chiyo fumbled with the locking mechanism. He shined his torch inside the exhibit to see toxic green eye shine come straight back at him. All were there. He ran up to Chiyo and helped her with the lock which sealed the gate shut with a loud clang. When he told them all Allosaurs were present there was a unanimous sigh of relief.

Charlotte started yelling after. "Who the flying f…" The next word was never heard thanks to Chiyo telling the other girl to stop swearing. "Sorry Chiyo. Who opened the gate? When the power goes off do all the gates open or something?"

"No." Nigel answered. "If they are locked and closed when the power is on if it turns off they remain locked and closed. Oh no. There was a Wrangler Tour I just remembered. By now it would be passing _Tyrannosaurus Territory_…"

Without hesitation they ran towards _Hell Creek_. If the gates were opened there…What if all the gates were open in the park? Over the wind there was an unearthly roar. Please let it be the wind or safely behind a closed gate. They soon reached _Tyrannosaurus Territory_. There was another sigh but not of relief. One jeep was fine except the door was wide open. The over had completely flipped over with glass strewn everywhere, the front windshield missing and a back tire gone. From the open gate was a series of muddy three toed footprints leading up to the jeep. A smashed hut that made up the toilets for the Wrangler Tour had its contents strewn everywhere; many parts of it caked in red. Among the wreckage was the recognisable body of Dr Ian Malcolm…


	14. Prehistoric Park Website Part 3

**Meet the Animals-Cenozoic**

_Prehistoric Park exhibits a wide array of animals from after the extinction of the dinosaurs. Some are shown here but we have so many that we can only show you a few!_

_Passenger Pigeon_

_Habitat: _Deciduous Forests

_Age: _Pleistocene-1914

_Size: _Males 39-41cm, Females 38-49cm

_Diet: _Berries, fruit, seeds, nuts, earthworms and snails

_Distribution: _Eastern United States

The Passenger Pigeon used to be a common sight east of the Rockies where they would migrate in flocks that numbered into the millions. A mixture of natural population decline, habitat loss and hunting caused the last Passenger Pigeon to go extinct in 1914. These brightly coloured birds can be found in the Carolina Aviaries where they live alongside the North Carolina Parakeet.

**Did you Know?**

Passenger Pigeons only breed in flocks in the tens of thousands. Prehistoric Park for this reason houses two flocks, one on Isla Nublar and one on Isla Sorna.

_Eastern Cougar_

_Habitat: _Dense forests

_Age: _Pleistocene-2015 (Officially classed as extinct)

_Size: _2.4m long

_Diet: _Elk, deer, birds, small mammals

_Distribution: _Eastern United States

The Eastern Cougar was a subspecies of the North American Cougar that was officially declared extinct in 2015. Like other subspecies of cougar the Eastern Cougar is an ambush where a cougar will stay in dense undergrowth before pouncing on their prey. Our four cougars can be located in Holocene Heights on Isla Sorna where we have managed to recreate an Eastern American forest. Commonly you can find the cubs hiding in a makeshift cave overlooking the park.

**Did you Know?**

The Eastern Cougar is the first animal declared extinct to be released back into the wild. With it being a subspecies and not a species it was deemed easiest to release and now a population thrives in the Norcross Wildlife Sanctuary in Massachusetts.

_Dodo_

_Name Meaning: _Possibly Portuguese origin with 'doido' meaning 'fool'

_Habitat: _Forests and wetlands

_Age: _Pleistocene-1681

_Size: _1m tall

_Diet: _Nuts, seeds, bulbs, roots, crabs and shellfish

_Distribution: _Mauritius

Dodos are one of the most well-known extinct animals. Males will often fight other males using their hooked beaks over territory rights. Dodos will form mating pairs where both parents take it in turns to look after the single chick. Prehistoric Park houses are large collection of these plump birds in Peace Park on Isla Nublar where our flock live in a replica of a Mauritian forest with an inbuilt swamp. Last year each pair laid a nest causing a population explosion and this has put forward our program to release them into the wild.

**Did you Know?**

To help in their digestion Dodos will eat gizzard stones to help break down plant matter.

_Brygmophyseter_

_Name meaning: _Biting Sperm Whale

_Habitat: _Open oceans, males ocean depths

_Age: _Miocene, 23-5 million years ago

_Size: _7m long

_Diet: _Fish and squid

_Distribution: _Japan

The Brygmophyseter was a distant relative of the sperm whale that lived in small pods near the surface of the ocean. Like modern sperm whales they would communicate using echolocation making them a highly sociable whale. Our pod lives in the sea between Isla Nublar and Isla Pena where they are most easily seen close to the sea surface. However our males swim in the deep depths so it is unlikely that you will see them except during the mating season when they come near the surface. We use sonar systems instead of a tank to keep them in but do not worry; the sonar gives them a large area for them to live in which would be unattainable with a traditional tank allowing them to live a better life.

**Did you Know?**

The Brygmophyseter was not top hunter in the seas of Japan. Smaller whales were often prey for the giant shark Megalodon.

_Chalicotherium_

_Name meaning: _Pebble Beast

_Species at the park: _antiquum and pilgrimmi

_Habitat: _Forest edges

_Age: _Late Burdigalian to Tortonian of the Miocene, 15-11 million years ago

_Size: _2.5m tall

_Diet: _Leaves

_Distribution: _Asia, Africa and Europe

The Chalicotherium is probably one of Prehistoric Park's weirdest creatures. Walking on its knuckles ending in large claws this weird animal is closest related to horses. These long claws are best used for defending themselves from enemies and stripping branches of their leaves. We exhibit two species of Chalicotherium, pilgrimmi on Isla Sorna next to the giant Paraceratherium and antiquum on Isla Tacano. Chalicotheres are not good jumpers or climbers so their exhibits are surrounded by a small hill allowing them to have their own territory.

**Did you Know?**

Chalicotherium had weak molars so they could not chew grasses as horses could so they went extinct when grasslands replaced forests in their habitat.

_Smilodon_

_Name meaning: _Knife Tooth

_Species at the park: _populator and fatalis

_Habitat: _Grasslands and forest edges

_Age: _Late Pleistocene to early Holocene, 2.5 million years ago-10,000 years ago

_Size: _1-1.2 meters high at the shoulder

_Diet: _Large mammals

_Distribution: _North and South America

The Smilodon, also known as the sabre-toothed tiger, is one of the most formidable hunters from nature. They live in prides led by a large alpha-male who can be easily identified by his large mane, muscular body and sharp canines which can grow up to half a meter long. We have three Smilodon prides consisting of two different species. Two of our prides are located on Isla Nublar in Santa Cruz Plains. Originally it was one pride until the alpha Half-Tooth drove the juvenile males out so they had to be given a separate plain. There are talks at the moment debating whether some females should be rescued for the males or whether the larger pride's young females should be moved into the male exhibit.

**Did you Know?**

Smilodon teeth a very brittle and can snap easily so when hunting they try to slice the throat of an herbivore to take it down.

_Argentavis_

_Name meaning: _Argentina Bird

_Habitat: _Mountains and Open plains

_Age: _Messinian of the Miocene, 7-5 million years ago

_Size: _7m wingspan

_Diet: _Carrion and juvenile mammals

_Distribution: _Argentina

Argentavis is the largest known bird easily dwarfing the wandering albatross who have a wingspan of 3 meters. Argentavis will form mating pairs that will last for the rest of their lives. Their eyesight is so good that they can spot a dying animal from well over 5,500 meters in the air. Our Argentavis can be seen for miles around soaring over a mountaintop in their exhibit. Utilising warm air currents caused by volcanic vents across the island our Argentavis have managed to fly incredibly high in the sky. There have even been reports of people seeing the Argentavis from boats going to Isla Sorna!

**Did you Know?**

Argentavis will rarely hunt in order to minimise injury. Instead they will go for dying animals or will scare predators like Thylacosmilus from their kills.

_Australopithecus afarensis_

_Name meaning: _Southern Ape from Afar

_Habitat: _Forests and savannahs

_Age: _3.9-2.9 million years ago

_Size: _Males 1.5 meters tall, females 1 meter tall

_Diet: _Fruit, vegetables, nuts, seeds, tubers, termites, eggs and some meat

_Distribution: _Ethiopia and Kenya

Australopithecus afarensis is thought to be our direct ancestor with it being one of the first apes to stand up tall. The Australopithecus live much like chimpanzees in large familial groups where they regularly play with one another. Some of our Australopithecus have even managed to learn some signs to communicate with humans! We have two troops of Australopithecus. Troop Alpha is led by the older Grey and Troop Beta is led by the much younger Hercules. Our troops forest is connected to the larger Ethiopian Plains exhibit and each troop is allowed to explore the exhibit at least once a week to keep them enriched. Our younger Australopithecus have even been seen trying to jump on the back of Deinotherium from trees to ride them!

**Did you Know?**

Paleontologists believe that Australopithecus evolved to stand upright was due to grasslands replacing forests forcing them to stand upright to spot potential predators.

_Megalodon_

_Name meaning: _Big tooth

_Habitat: _Open oceans

_Age: _Miocene to early Pleistocene, 16-2.6 million years ago

_Size: _15-18 meters long

_Diet: _Large fish, sharks, cetaceans and seals

_Distribution: _Worldwide

The Megalodon is the largest known species of shark an average Megalodon being the same size as the largest known whale shark. They commonly hunt whales by going down deep into the ocean then stunning them with their nose in a great burst of speed so they can take a chunk out of the unfortunate whale. We exhibit three Megalodon at Prehistoric Park but only the young male can be seen from the Boat Tour. Our two adults, Bahamut and Lamia, can be seen from the Underwater Walkway after they became overly aggressive towards the Tour Boat. The adults normally swim deep down in the depths of their enclosure during the day so if you want to get a good look at them you have to go at night or come during the feeding show.

**Did you Know?**

It was once thought that Megalodon was a member of the Carcharodon genus which also contains the great white shark. We now know that it was in its own genus called Carcharocles.

_Mammuthus primigenius_

_Habitat: _Steppes

_Age: _Pleistocene to Holocene, 150,000 years ago-4000 years ago

_Size: _3 meters high at the shoulder

_Diet: _Mosses, flowering plants, shrubs, saplings

_Distribution: _Eurasia and North America

The Mammuthus is commonly referred to as the woolly mammoth. The mammoth would travel from one side of the world to the other to graze on the steppes during the last Ice Age. They changed the habitat around them earning their reverence in the religion of both our ancestors and the Neanderthals. Originally Prehistoric Park's herd of mammoths consisted of two females, Martha and Ellie, and a male called Torn from Poland. When we rescued a small herd of young females from North America who had lost most of the elderly mammoths during a hunt they looked to Martha as the matriarch. Our mammoth herd is the pride of Prehistoric Park. In the early September of 2015 Martha gave birth to our first baby mammoth called Lech. The herd can be seen in Ice Age Mount on Isla Nublar where they happily play with our herd of Mastodon. Beware watching them though! Young mammoths are very cheeky and like to throw mud at people in summer and snow in the winter.

**Did you Know?**

Prehistoric Park is currently working with Russian researcher Sergey Zimov to release the woolly mammoth into the wild in a secure research facility in Siberia. However this will have to wait until the mammoth population is deemed to be stable.

_Hyracotherium_

_Name meaning: _Hyrax like beast

_Age:_ Ypresian to Lutetian of the Eocene, 56-41 million years ago

_Habitat: _Forests

_Size: _60 centimetres long

_Diet: _Fruits, shrubs and leaves

_Distribution: _All across the Northern Hemisphere

The Hyracotherium is a tiny prehistoric horse that lived across the world. Forests dominated the early Eocene which meant that the Hyracotherium stayed small as a result. We have a small population of Hyracotherium in the Eocene Trail on Isla Sorna. They like new people and have often been seen running eagerly up to people who enter the Eocene Trail but they run off in the other direction whenever a loud noise is heard. Hyracotherium at the park like to form herds with the other early horse Propaleotherium.

**Did you Know?**

The Hyracotherium does not have hooves but instead toes.

_Titanoboa_

_Name meaning: _Titan Boa

_Age: _Selandian of the Paleocene, 61-59 million years ago

_Habitat: _Wetlands and rivers

_Size: _12.8-14.8 meters long

_Diet: _large fish, crocodiles and turtles

_Distribution: _Colombia

The Titanoboa is the largest known species of snake that inhabited the rivers and wetlands of prehistoric Colombia. It hunted like anacondas and pythons by first grasping its prey with its mouth and then constricting the prey with its powerful, muscular body. Currently we have two adult Titanoboa at Prehistoric Park and they recently laid a clutch of eggs to which three hatched. From our observation platforms you can get a good glimpse of our snakes without getting close to their mighty jaws. During the day you can see them in all their glory swimming around the mangroves in their enclosure but at night they curl up in secluded corners so they are much more difficult to spot.

**Did you Know?**

Titanoboa spent most of its time in water. Water allows the Titanoboa greater manoeuvrability as well as giving it an extra measure of camouflage from its prey.

_Paraceratherium_

_Name meaning: _Near horn beast

_Species at the park: _P. transouralicum

_Age: _Priabonian to Chattian of the Oligocene, 38-23 million years ago

_Habitat: _Open plains

_Size: _4.8 meters tall at the shoulder

_Diet: _Bushes and leaves

_Distribution: _China, Mongolia, Kazakstan, India and Pakistan

The Paraceratherium, also known as the Indricotherium, is the largest terrestrial mammal and was so large it even dwarfed dinosaurs like Tyrannosaurus and Europasaurus. Due to their large size they were mostly solitary or otherwise they would eat the land dry! Our Paraceratherium live on Isla Sorna but sometimes you can feel the earth shake as they move. Old Roy, the large male, has a habit of looking into the treetop hide to see who is in there although he does not know his own strength sometimes. It is advisable not to be in the hide when he puts his head in because he often gets overexcited!

**Did you Know?**

Paraceratherium have a hump on their shoulder which they use for storage like a camel on their long journeys searching for food.

_New to 2016_

_Barbary Lion_

_Age: _Pleistocene-circa 1965

_Habitat: _Outskirts of forests and open plains

_Size: _2.5-2.8 meters long

_Diet: _Gazelles, deer, boar, birds and livestock

_Distribution: _North Africa

The Barbary Lion was once common across North Africa, especially around the Atlas Mountains, until deforestation, extinction of their common prey animals and hunting drove them to extinction. Like their southern and Asian relatives the Barbary Lion was easily the top predator where they lived. Recently Prehistoric Park has acquired ten Barbary Lions and can be seen in the Holocene Heights on Isla Sorna. Our young male Scar lives by himself like he would in the wild but we have a small pride led by our older male Barnaby nearby. Three cubs orphaned by a Roman poacher are currently being adopted by a golden retriever who now views them as her own pups. The lions are currently not available for public viewing.

**Did you Know?**

Since the reign of King Henry III of England a menagerie was kept in the Tower of London which often contained Barbary Lions. In 1835 the Duke of Wellington relocated the last Barbary Lions to the more humane London Zoo after a lion was accused of biting a soldier.


	15. Restoring Power

Restoring Power

Most of the straw was dyed red. Malcolm's breathing accompanied wheezing gasps for breath and the sporadic rising and falling of his chest. His once black shirt sleeve greedily drank the crimson on his arm. A thick black belt was tightly wrapped around a red circle on his upper thigh which had something white sticking out from the muscle. _Oh Christ his bone is showing! _An acidic taste started to build up in the back of his mouth. One long pitiful groan managed to feebly leave Malcolm's mouth. Chiyo and Nigel knelt beside him.

"He's made himself a tourniquet. Burning up as well," Chiyo hastily said. Malcolm tried to sit up but all that happened was another gasp of pain was released.

"The big female grabbed me. Shook me… about for a bit but I… don't think her heart was in it. I just her…her foot go…foot went through the toilet and… Oh Christ the kids in the jeep…"

Jordan turned round to look at the devastated jeep. Thick glutinous mud was seeping into the interior through the smashed windshield. Something was moving inside. An arm! Grabbing Bob he ran to the jeep, mud squelching with each step, and grabbed the left hand which was waving up and down. Bob grabbed the other and they pulled together. It felt like dragging a corpse. The mud was hardening, solidifying as they tried to pull the kid from the upturned jeep. He knelt down and started clawing the mud in a desperate attempt to get the trapped person free. Suddenly the mud gave way and a soggy guest caked from chest to toe in brown came free. It was Tim Murphy, Hammond's grandson.

"Lex! Kelly!" the boy yelled. Two other figures emerged from under a nearby tree and embraced one another. Rain mixed with the brown on their skin and clothes causing the brown to slowly ebb away. The glutinous mud on his hands was even falling away thanks to the light rain. He heard some doors open and two more kids, possibly in their early teens, joined their muddy friends.

"What happened?" he asked the group. It was Lex who answered. "Just after the storm hit the jeeps stopped. No lights, no radio, nothing. Tim thought he heard a gate opening but we just sat there for a bit. We turned on one of the torches in the back to see what was happening and there was just this dinosaur. It roared when it saw the light and smashed through the sunroof. I blacked out when it tipped the jeep and Kelly started dragging me out when the mud started coming in."

"Dr Malcolm got out the jeep when it tipped over the other one." It was the preteen boy from the other jeep that spoke. "He lit a flare and the T Rex chased him. Kelly wanted to go after him but we heard something else come from the gate so we hid inside." Two Kellys, just to make it difficult. Tim, Lex and Kelly Curtis must have been in the upturned jeep while Malcom's daughter and Arby Benton must have been in the other one.

"Jordan! The gate!" They told the kids to wait in the safe jeep. All they needed now was for another Rex to come along. At least two were already roaming the park. _Maria please be safe. Stay on any island but Isla Nublar. _He had no religious disposition but he prayed to every god of every religion that the gates flying open were a Nublar only event. Charlotte joined them to help close the gate. All his muscles burned as he pushed against the metal gate. He felt the gate move against the liquid earth. The loud metallic slam of the gates was the greatest sound he had ever heard.

"Don't lock them!" Bob said quickly. "A Rex can't open them and with possibly two out there…" At that Charlotte gave a small squeak of fear. Bob continued: "Matilda's out and judging by their territorial boundaries Cronus will be as well. Only Matilda dares to enter his territory."

They ran back up to the smashed toilet. If Ian Malcolm hadn't managed to make himself a tourniquet he probably wouldn't have survived judging by how much red there was. Chiyo's rucksack was wide open, it always contained useful items. Currently she was dabbing Malcolm's head with a cloth as Nigel wiped round the wound with disinfectant and wet wipes. Spasms of pain were flickering across his face with each dab.

"Are…the ten year olds…alright?" he asked.

"Ian, Lex is at least twenty one and that Kelly is twelve," Bob said.

"I've just been attacked by a dinosaur give me a break."

"We need to get him to Dr Paulson," Nigel said. "There's a Service Hut nearby. Unless if someone's taken it out it should contain a jeep. Here's the plan. I'll take Jordan with me to get the jeep, Chiyo you're the best at first aid so you take care of Ian and Bob help her. If a Rex or another animal comes you know what to do. Charlotte you're unqualified and we can't risk your safety…No buts. Chiyo tells me you're good with kids and I know Ian's daughter and her friends are young teens they're still kids. Look after them. If something comes keep them quiet and safe. Come on team!"

He followed Nigel further down the path. Already the winds were dying down and the rain had turned from a torrential monster to a gentle drizzle. Nigel took a sharp right through a twisted thicket which boasted a small dirt path. There was no way that a lumbering beast such as a Tyrannosaurus could get through there. He never took notice of the winding bends that the path took them along. A bat darted in front of them like a black dart but that was the only animal life that they saw. All the time he was thinking of Maria. Please let her be safe. Through the thick branches he saw a large wooden building glistening thanks to the rain. Nigel ignored the sign which read **Staff Only **in four languages but his hand flickered over the door knob. The electronic panel which staff could usually swipe their card against to unlock doors was a dark grey.

"Security system's off," Nigel said in confusion "This can't be thanks to Dennis."

The door opened with a creek. It was as black as the night inside. Two of the recent electric Toyota pickup jeeps sat silent in the centre of the room surrounded by shelves supporting green binoculars, metal containers hiding unknown items and blue gas canisters. Nigel ran up to the nearest jeep, unceremoniously pulling out the pump which ran from the now dead electric charging points to the car. Jordan ran to the corrugated metal door and opened it revealing another dirt path through a less tangled thicket. Luckily it was still too thick for a Tyrannosaurus to get through.

"Jump in!" Nigel cried. He did as Nigel turned on the engine allowing it to purr like a cat as it came to life. He put the jeep into gear and it shot backwards. Haunting shadows were cast upon them by the tree branches as the jeep bounded up and down along the path. Quickly the wreckage inflicted by Matilda loomed before them. Nigel jumped out to inform them of the new plan. "Bob you take Lex, Tim, the two Kellys and Arby in the Jeep Wrangler. Take them to the Perimeter Fence. The rest of us will get Ian into the jeep and take him to Dr Paulson. Chiyo, Charlotte go in the back and look after him. Jordan in the front with me. Keep a look out for me."

They slowly loaded Dr Malcolm into the back of the pickup jeep. It was a slow process with them trying to avoid putting pressure on his shattered leg. A sound of wheels skidding on mud indicated that Bob had taken the kids to safety. Malcolm made one final groan as they bundled him into the jeep. His heart pounding like it never had done before he climbed into the front with Nigel. The rain had stopped but a dark blue night set in to replace it. A pair of amber beams issued from the headlights like beams to heaven and the engine purred into life again.

"Ah crap," Ian moaned as the jeep ran over a hole in the road. "For the love of god give me some morphine!"

"We don't have any," Charlotte replied with her voice wavering.

"I need something to get numb my mind from the pain. I doubt you have any alcohol. Reel off some facts for me, sing, tell a joke. Anything to get my mind off of this pain!"

"Erm." He heard Chiyo's teeth chatter. "The Pre…Prehistoric Park website has a m…mistake. It says Paraceratherium is the largest land mammal but Palaeoloxodon namadicus was larger. Erm…Charlotte's full name is Jennifer Charlotte Hayner. She was named after her aunt who she didn't like so tells everyone that Charlotte is her name… I'll sing. _And who are you the proud lord said, that I must bow so low? Only a cat with a different coat, that's all the truth I know. In a coat of gold or a coat of red, a lion still has claws, and mine are long and sharp, my lord, as long and sharp as yours…_"

He had to admit that Chiyo had a beautiful singing voice. Maria has a nice singing voice… _Keep your mind on the task. _He nudged Nigel as he noticed a golden pheasant in the middle of the path. There was a cracking noise and a bloodcurdling scream. He looked back to see a dark green head with icy grey feathers like a winter fog. A low hiss emerged from the colossal jaws. It was Matilda… The Tyrannosaurus darted forward jaws outstretched, eagerly bared at them to finish what she had started. An adult Tyrannosaurus could run up to 28km/hour and the jeep could go faster than that. However, if they went too fast with so many bends they could easily veer off course. Matilda was catching up fast. Her shadow was slowly edging its way over Malcolm's body.

"Drive faster! Must go faster!" He frantically muttered. He could smell the thick, meaty breath of the Tyrannosaurus. Every triangular tooth, able to crush bone like a matchstick, could be seen in clear view. Chiyo fell on top of him sending him flying forward onto the gearstick. It painfully stabbed into him like a knife sending tears into his eyes. The stick shifted underneath him, the car changed gear and sped forward. Matilda increased her strides to try and catch them. Before them, looming ahead in the night was a crumbling winged serpent statue standing three metres tall left by the Matazamas. The jeep passed safely under but Matilda did not notice. She smashed into the statue sending the hissing serpentine head crumbling to the earth. Matilda shook her head roaring in anger with red dripping down her skull. She hissed at them and returned from whence she came. That was probably a minor scratch for her.

"I would advise taking that off the tour," Malcolm said deliriously. Whether that was thanks to his cynical nature or blood loss he had no idea. Nigel started laughing almost hysterically. They had just been saved from the jaws of an angry dinosaur by a statue built centuries ago by a long dead people. Some irony was definitely at play there. Soon the reassuring figure of the Perimeter Fence stood tall over the canopy. A large door had been fitted into the Fence for vehicles to enter and exit. Some guardsmen saw them approaching and opened it allowing them to enter the sanctuary. The jeep rolled seamlessly over the tarmac. Juxtaposition was painfully obvious here. Guests left nearby restaurants neatly dressed only to look at them in horror at their mud caked sight and the dark red stains on Malcolm. Dr Paulson met them outside his practice looking horrified. His team of medical practitioners were evidently more gentle than they were as Malcolm only cringed once as they bundled him inside. Malcolm was lowered onto a crisp white bed illuminated by golden glows from pewter lanterns hanging up from the walls.

"Lanterns?" Nigel asked in amusement.

"Nigel you forget that I opened my practice before I was kidnapped in the 1850s. Electricity is a strange concept to me. Now what in the world has happened here?"

"T Rex attack!" Jordan answered "All the gates opened and then the power went off throughout Isla Nublar and possibly the whole park. Matilda the big female picked him up and dropped him."

"Bob has just been in here getting me to look over Tim and Lex Murphy and three other kids. No injuries on any." There was a sigh of relief from the others. Only Malcolm had been injured. "Thank goodness Abe is safe away from any animals on Pena. Mary…She escaped slavers firing bullets over her head and dogs slavering at her heels before we met Harriet Tubman. She will be safe. Now Dr Malcolm."

Dr Paulson gave Malcolm a shot of morphine and his face instantly turned into something blissful. Nigel muttered about getting to the Control Room. Were they even aware of the mass power outage? Did they just assume the power outage was because of Nedry restarting the system? They left the clinic to see streams of guests returning to the hotel. With no power and adventures across the Fence barred the only thing to do was return to their rooms. The path that led to the Control Room had become enveloped in thick mud making their progress slower. Nigel heaved open the door to the Control Room revealing chaos. Everyone was shouting and each computer screen fizzled to show black issuing three white words: **whte **. John Arnold sat at Nedry's normal place cursing.

"God damn this! I hate this hacker crap! Someone get Nedry!" He pulled out a cigarette and lit it. Claire Dearing went up to him frowning and waving her hands. "You don't know how stressful this is Claire!"

"Nigel, Chiyo," a voice more calmly said. Simon Masrani sat up from one of the desks. At closer inspection he was visibly shaken. He face looked haggard and there were red veins in his eyes. "All hell has broken loose here. Dennis went off to get a soda and take a stroll with one of his interns through the park before the storm hit. The other one stayed for a bit, put a memory stick in Nedry's desktop, typed for a bit and then left. A few minutes later the power went off except for Nedry's computer. When Arnold tried to go onto Nedry's computer that white rabbit thing came up on every screen."

"A Trojan Horse virus," Arnold explained "You have to manually install it. I can't do anything with it. That 'intern' attached it to the system. I can easily delete it by rebooting the system but I need power for that or otherwise we lose everything. Seen as the auxiliary power hasn't come on I'm assuming that this crap has wiped out all power in the park."

His heart sank. The Control Room was the brain of Prehistoric Park. It controlled everything. Now with it severed the park would slowly die. Nigel put a hand to his mouth in shock. They probably didn't know about how the gates were wide open.

"The f…fences," Chiyo started.

"Don't worry Chiyo," the ranger Muldoon said in a surly tone "The animals cannot get over or through the fences. The apes can but they don't like this weather so will stay in the shelter. Even the raptors avoid the fences."

"No," Jordan replied a little too harshly. Muldoon looked him straight in the eye as if challenging him to a fight. "Before the power went off all the gates to the enclosures opened. We managed to lock up the Allosaurs, the Tyrannosaurs and _Jurassic Heights_ but…Matilda and Cronus have escaped. Possibly some residents of _Jurassic Heights _did as well. Matilda attacked the Wrangler Tour and Malcolm is badly hurt. We think that maybe all the gates have been opened."

Sullen silence had hit the room. Slowly the realisation dawned on them. Masrani sank onto a bannister shaking his head, Claire placed her hands over her mouth whispering 'Oh God' and Muldoon took out a hip flask to take one huge gulp. It was Nigel who spoke next.

"Not all of the animals may have escaped. The oxygen and atmospheric generators aren't attached to the main power supply not controlled by Control. That should keep most of them in. The bad weather as well. The Titanoboa only sexually matured this summer and are a fraction of their full size so they would be reluctant to leave their enclosure, the Gigantophis only go over land when no water is available so they should stay where they are. Most of the animals are diurnal and it's night now so there's no fear. Velociraptors only come out in the day and…"

It was like hitting a brick wall. Out of all the raptors that could potentially harm a human only the Velociraptor was diurnal. Dromaeosaurus, Utahraptor, the Alaskan Troodon and Troodon all hunted at night. Muldoon took another swig from his flask and ran into a nearby room. He emerged wielding a rifle and a several multi-coloured darts.

"I'm getting Oskins, Tembo, Arjay and Hamada. If the raptors are out we will be in serious trouble. Bob came in quickly mentioning going to Sorna; he's got the right idea. Take the offensive!" He had a notion, which was highly justified, that Muldoon was drunk or slightly intoxicated.

"It may not be bad as we think," John started again "Whenever the power goes off the monorail stops in its tracks and the attractions like the Aquarium, Pterosaur Aviary and Green House have an automatic shut-in system. It should keep guests in. I need the auxiliary power though to see how bad things are!"

"I'll do it. I know the park well and how to operate the generators," he was surprised to see that it was Chiyo who volunteered. Inspired by her bravery he volunteered to go with her. Owen Grady and Claire Dearing, (_My nephews are out there and restoring power will help me find them_), also volunteered while Nigel opted to go around the park to recapture escapee animals.

"I rescued them once so how hard can it be to do it again?"

He instantly left shouting words of good luck. Arnold turned to the rest of them handing Chiyo a set of blueprints. He hands were shaking like a fish on a hook.

"Follow this layout. Only turn on the power for Control. That way I can wipe the virus from the system and turn the rest of the power on for the park. Only Control! The system needs time to reboot properly and if we turn the auxiliary on for the entire park it can overload it. Good luck."

As they started heading for the door Charlotte followed. Chiyo turned angrily at her but Charlotte was having none of it. "I'm coming whether you like it or not. Handcuff to the door and I'll take the door of its hinges, knock me out and I'll just follow when I regain conscious. I love you Chiyo and I'm going to stay with you. Anyway you owe me for telling everyone my actual first name."

Realising the futility of arguing they set off again. They went back to the pickup jeep that they had transported Malcolm in and got inside. He would drive, Chiyo would direct in shotgun, Claire and Charlotte would be in the back on lookout while Owen drove alongside them on a quad bike. The adrenaline rush wiped out his fear as easily as the meteorite had wiped out the dinosaurs. It was thrilling. As they bounded across the path nothing seemed to daunt him. A cacophony of strange and alien calls that reverberated around the forest seemed so far away.

"How about a race jeep boy?" Owen yelled over the roar of his quad bike engine. He thought made him grin. That grin turned sour almost immediately. There was a huge cracking noise like a window smashing and a huge glass ball smashed clumsily through the trees ahead of them. He sharply broke sending everyone flying forward as Owen skidded to a halt. The Gyrosphere had huge cracks running down it and inside two boys were screaming.

"Zach! Gray!" Claire yelled. His thrill had vanished. Two silhouettes turned from a deep blue to a pale white. The larger male Indominus placed his gigantic jaws over the Gyropshere, his bottom jaw extending like a snake to swallow its prey. It started violently smashing the Gyrosphere into the soft earth, the screams of Claire's nephews barely being heard over the haunting splinter of the Gyrosphere.

"Ido, Domino over here!" Owen yelled. He held up his arms. Domino looked at him and gave a small grunt while Ido continued to smash the Gyrosphere. "Hey. Hey. I see you Ido come here." The Indominus dropped the Gyrosphere on its side revealing a large hole where the dinosaur had managed to smash its way through. "I'll get them to follow me and I'll lock them in their enclosure. I'll meet you all at the Perimeter Fence." He sped off on his bike causing the two white dinosaurs to follow him eagerly like some monstrous dogs. Jordan jumped out the jeep but he could not keep up with the pace of Claire. By the time he had reached the Gyrosphere she had already pulled her nephews out and were hugging them, salty tears dropped down from her eyes like rain.

"Don't tell your mother about this," she said half laughing, half crying.

"Aunt Claire your boyfriend is awesome," the older one Zach said looking in the direction that Owen had sped off in. They got the two into the back with Charlotte and Claire, instantly setting off again. If Ido and Domino was out that meant that Indy was too…

"We got to see the Indominus Rex Gray!" the younger brother Gray eagerly said. "Discovered earlier this year by Paul Serano, it was thought at first to be an abeliasaurid but it was given its own family."

"Chiyo I think we found the eleven year old boy version of you!" Charlotte laughed although he couldn't help but notice how her voice was wavering. They reached a crossroads in the road. Upon it was a sign with two arrows, one pointing left and one pointing right, a picture of a ship, a picture of a lightning bolt and writing in English, Mandarin, Russian and Spanish. To the left it read **West Dock** with the ship picture and to the right it read **Auxiliary Power Generator **with the lightning bolt. He turned left. As they thundered down the road he had just noticed that it had stopped raining.

"It's just Prehistoric Park's luck," Chiyo said solemnly "The last storm of the wet season and we get quite blatant corporate espionage." He had never thought of it as corporate espionage, of course Chiyo was much more aware than he was about these sorts of things. It made sense though. Prehistoric Park had been elevated to god like status for animal and environmentalist groups but others vilified the park. Extremist religious groups had criticised the park for playing god but they were never this subtle or powerful enough, with rabbis, imams, priests and even the pope loving the park it only left the extremists who had long ago alienated most supporters. It had to be corporate. The scientific progress through Prehistoric Park was rivalled only by the UN Space Program and had made InGen with all its investors very wealthy. JIB, Biosyn, Lux Corp had been trailing in the dust of InGen and even Apple experienced a drop in stock value when it was announced that Prehistoric Park had the most advanced communication and computing technology. Any one of them would want InGen taken down a peg or two.

"This left here," Chiyo said. It was hard to miss. The four chimneys that normally spewied water vapour stood silent above a metal door reading **Staff Only **on the front, it was built into the earth itself. Everyone stepped out of the jeep, Claire hung onto her nephews for dear life while Charlotte did the same to Chiyo. Chiyo fumbled for some keys in her pocket and after finding the correct one placed it in the door unlocking it.

"I argued that conventional keys might actually be useful in the park," she told him smiling.

"You're definitely right. They should listen to your ideas more often."

It felt like he had walked into a furnace. Fiery beads of sweat poured from his brow and ran down his face. Chiyo's face turned a light red which accompanied by her red hair made it look like her head was on fire. He got out his torch and shined it down the corridor. Before them was a small set of metal stairs which they descended. Claire wisely closed the door; if something followed them in they would have no other way to escape.

"Judging by these blueprints we have to follow one singular black wire running along the roof. It has a diameter of about a metre," Chiyo said holding the blueprints in front of the torch light.

Even in the low level of light it was hard to miss the wire. Resembling a large black snake it wound its way through the rest of the generators. They set off deep into the plant following the black wire as it twisted and turned with the walkway. Blue, red and brown wires broke off from the black one leading to various different white generators the size of small cars.

"Hyundai Dh64KSE Diesel Generators with the alterations to accommodate geothermal energy," Gray said in excitable awe. "They use them on the Martian colony. Just one can generate enough energy to warm water up to a 100 Degrees Celsius for fifth of Manhattan households."

Currently the lack of anything from the generators indicated that it couldn't heat water up to 100°C for a cup of tea. The black wire stopped suddenly in front of a panel with signs showing electrical danger all around it. A plastic barrier separated them from multiple buttons.

"John gave me some instructions," she explained "Someone strong needs to pull this lever down three times and then immediately press this button." She gestured to what looked like a handle next to the plastic barrier and an orange button. "Jordan you're the strongest so you pull the lever, I'll press the button."

He grabbed the lever and pulled down. He understood why someone strong had to do it. It felt like the lever was pulling against you when you pushed it down. It slipped and went down and then immediately back up again. He pushed down again and it sprang up a second time. After the third time Chiyo pressed the button and the buttons behind the plastic barrier came to life with an orange glow. As soon as the button was pressed all around them the generators started to emit a soft humming noise like countless humming birds. She opened the latch sealing the plastic and it swung open with a creak.

"Ah Control Room," she said and pressed an orange button. A light next to it glowed green and Chiyo gave them a reassuring smile. Control now should have power, John Arnold could wipe out the virus and restore power to the rest of the park. As soon as he opened the door to the generators a wave of cool, refreshing air rushed in. It felt soothing. No one had died, Nigel Marven himself was overseeing the return of animals to their enclosures, power was restored to Control and Owen had managed to get two of the most dangerous dinosaurs of all time back into their enclosures by now.

"Aunt Claire where do we go now?" Zach asked as he climbed into the back of the jeep.

"With me back to Control. I'm not letting you out of my sight until you go on that boat home. Our computer technicians will safely restore the power."

He turned on the engine of the jeep and set off. Hopefully Maria was safe somewhere away from any escapee jaws. He stopped sharply. Standing in the beams of the headlights, its eyes glowing an eerie white colour, was like a bird with ruffled dark brown feathers and light brown stripes across its body. Exactly like a bird except for the scaly snout and curved, clawed toes. One wing was at a jaunty angle to the other one.

"That's the injured Dromaeosaurus." He had personally taken it to the vets himself. It had been gliding and hit a tree too hard causing the arm to splinter. Red along the small dinosaur's mouth did not bode well. "Suzanne's clinic isn't too far away so if we catch him we can take him there."

"Spoken just like Nigel," Chiyo said stepping out the jeep.

Just then the Dromaeosaurus squealed and darted up ahead. Human noises were coming from behind them.

"That's one of the bastards that attacked Vargas. One of the bastards got a claw in his neck!" a harsh voice yelled. It sounded like nails scrapping along steel. "Hey out of the jeep!"

The voice was owned by a tall man sporting a goatee and a single scar running from his forehead to his left cheek. He must have been in his mid-fifties. Jordan was going to say something but stopped when he realised the man had a long machete pointed to the neck of someone he knew. Dennis Nedry's right cheek was dark red from where someone had used him as a punch bag. A younger man than the machete wielder held Nedry by the scruff of his neck. Another man and woman wearing Prehistoric Park lanyards and badges were looking fearful.

"Dennis?" Claire asked appalled "What's happening?"

"Listen _puta_," he spat "You think dinosaurs are the worst thing out here tonight? Give us the jeep or _gordo _gets it."

He placed the machete at Nedry's throat. A single red droplet ran down the blade. What was going on?


	16. Prehistoric Park Website Part 4

**Meet the Animals- Paleozoic**

_Prehistoric Park exhibits a wide range of animals that lived before the dinosaurs existed. Here are a few of our animals but the rest are at the park!_

_Anomalocaris_

_Species at the park: _Canadensis

_Name meaning: _Abnormal shrimp

_Habitat: _Reefs

_Age: _Cambrian, 499-488 million years ago

_Size: _1.5 meters long

_Diet: _Trilobites, jellyfish, marine invertebrates and some plankton

_Distribution: _Worldwide

The Anomalocaris is one of the oldest animals to ever exist coming from a time before land plants and when the planet was much colder than it is today. Using their shrimp like mandibles they will tear part the hard carapaces of trilobites so they can suck the soft insides out. Our Anomalocaris can be seen in the Burgess Shale section of the Aquarium on Isla Nublar where their regular feeding can be seen twice a day. Even if you can't see them they can see you; each eye of an Anomalocaris contains 16,700 lenses so they can see you coming from a long distance.

**Did you Know?**

When Anomalocaris was first discovered its various body parts were assumed to be of separate species. The mandibles were thought to be a shrimp, the mouth a jellyfish and the body a sponge!

_Pikaia_

_Name meaning: _named after Pika Peak

_Habitat: _Reefs

_Age: _mid-Cambrian, 498 million years ago

_Diet: _Plankton

_Size: _38 millimeters long

_Distribution: _Canada

Pikaia is the most primitive vertebrate to not only live in Prehistoric Park but to ever exist. Many paleontologists regard the Pikaia as the ancestor to all vertebrates. However they are so primitive that they still share many similarities with invertebrates. They are filter-feeders and use small tentacles on their head to collect microscopic plankton present in the Cambrian oceans. At Prehistoric Park we have a collection in the Aquarium.

**Did you Know?**

Pikaia have an unusual swimming motion where they contort their body into an S-shape to propel themselves forward in a similar way to an eel. Unlike eels though Pikaia are slow swimmers.

_Meganeura_

_Species at the park: _brongniati

_Name meaning: _Large nerved

_Habitat: _Swamps and wetlands

_Age: _Late Carboniferous, 303-299 million years ago

_Diet: _Flying insects. As a nymph tadpoles, swimming insects and small fish

_Size: _75 centimeter long wingspan

_Distribution: _Western Europe

Meganeura were giant dragonflies called griffinflies that flew through the primeval forests of the Carboniferous. High levels of oxygen, (35% oxygen content to 21% in our time), and warm temperatures during the Carboniferous allowed the Meganeura to dominate the skies as birds do now. Their nymphs can grow to be 10 centimeters long and are large enough to take down fish and even tadpoles of giant amphibians. We have many individual Meganeura at Prehistoric Park in our Carboniferous House. There is a special walkway that you can go through where these giants will flutter their great transparent wings above you. People often say that their wings are like a fan when they fly above you.

**Did you Know?**

Meganeura like all insects and invertebrates use a different respiratory system to vertebrates which relies on a process called diffusion to take in oxygen. In the Carboniferous this allowed Meganeura to become giants but in our atmosphere using diffusion would mean a Meganeura would not only suffocate but also die of dehydration.

_Dimetrodon_

_Name meaning: _Two measures of teeth

_Species at the park: _grandis

_Habitat: _Riversides and wetlands

_Age: _Artinskian through to the Capitanian of the Permian, 295-272 million years ago

_Diet: _Fish, amphibians and diapsids

_Size: _4 meters long

_Distribution: _USA and Northern Europe

Dimetrodon are often mistaken for dinosaurs but they are far older than dinosaurs. It was once thought that they were cold blooded with a sail which they would turn to the sun to warm themselves. We now know that they are partially warm blooded and the sail is in fact a hump for storage during the winter months. At Prehistoric Park we have accommodated all their feeding styles, most of the year they mostly feed on fish but occasionally we give them meat to eat. The best way to view the Dimetrodon is to come in the summer at noon when they can be seen diving into the river hunting for fish.

**Did you Know?**

Despite being partially warm blooded they are sluggish during the early morning and night. Often in the morning you can see them angling their bodies towards the sun to warm themselves so they can be active later in the day.

_Scutosaurus_

_Name meaning: _Shield lizard

_Habitat: _Riversides, semi-deserts and open floodplains

_Age: _Changhsingian of the Permian, 254-252 million years ago

_Diet: _Bushes, shrubs and river plants

_Size: _2.5 meters long

_Distribution: _Russia

Scutosaurus are heavily armored reptiles from the Late Permian. In the wild they would migrate huge distances in the dry season to where they would find rivers and other bodies of water. Unfortunately for the Scutosaurus they were the prey of preference for many different animals and have a unique way to protect themselves: a threatened Scutosaurus would bury itself in the earth so nothing could get at the soft underbelly. We have a herd of Scutosaurus new to the Permian Plains where they like to wallow on the riverbank in the mud. It is possible to see the Scutosaurus from the Matanceros River Tour at times, it has been noted that they like the sound of the boat engine!

**Did you Know?**

Young Scutosaurus will actually eat dung! It allows bacteria to build up in their gut which makes digestion of tough plant matter much easier for them.

_Hylonomus_

_Name meaning: _Forest dweller

_Habitat: _Forests

_Age: _Bashkirian of the Carboniferous, 315-312 million years ago

_Diet: _Insects and millipedes

_Size: _20 centimeters long

_Distribution: _Nova Scotia

Hylonomus was one of the earliest known reptiles and used to scurry amongst the forest floor of the Carboniferous period. With their fast speed Hylonomus can easily catch insects and millipedes. At Prehistoric Park we have a small collection of Hylonomus in the Carboniferous House and are easiest to spot during the early morning where they casually lounge about on logs to warm themselves up. Look carefully in logs when you come though because Hylonomus often will hide near the opening of a log when they sense a possible threat coming.

**Did you Know?**

Hylonomus like to build their nests inside logs. This way larger animals ranging from amphibians to giant bugs cannot get to their precious eggs and eat them.

_Cameroceras _

_Name meaning: _Chambered horn

_Species at the park: _trentonense

_Habitat: _Abysses

_Age: _470-460 million years ago

_Diet: _Sea scorpions, belemnites and trilobites

_Size: _6 meter long shell

_Distribution: _Europe, China and North America

Cameroceras is often nicknamed the Giant Orthocone for its colossus size. Not only is it the largest species of orthocone but for millions of years was the largest cephalopod. Their strong tentacles can easily break a human arm which they used in the wild to crush the shells of sea scorpions and trilobites. Our Cameroceras are hard to spot because they live in abysses during the day but at night they will come to the surface. **Due to unexpected issues the Underwater Walkway for the Cameroceras Abyss is out of bounds.**

**Did you Know?**

The eyes of a Cameroceras are small but like other cephalopods they are very strong. They use their eyesight to see prey in the dark before the prey knows that the Cameroceras is there.

_Gorgonops_

_Name meaning: _Gorgon face

_Species at the park: _torvus

_Habitat: _Shrubs

_Age: _Late Permian, 260-254 million years ago

_Diet: _Pareiasaurs

_Size: _3 meters long

_Distribution: _South Africa

Gorgonops can easily be viewed as a mixture of a dinosaur and a saber-toothed cat. With their sharp curved teeth they like to hunt down their prey and sink their teeth into the throat. Although not as large as their Siberian relative, the Inostrancevia, the Gorgonops was still top predator in South Africa. Our Gorgonops can be seen on Isla Sorna hunting artificial prey animals as they would in the wild.

**Did you Know?**

Gorgonops were both warm and cold blooded. Their pups are covered in fluff which they lose most of when they get older, adult Gorgonops have a thin layer of hair due to them living in a warm habitat.


	17. Mercenaries

Mercenaries

"Are you deaf? Out of the jeep or _gordo _loses a chin!" the machete wielder spat again. He could see faint lines of sweat dripping down Nedry's forehead. Who was this man? Was he a terrorist or a kidnapper? He could feel his own heart stop still with fear. Any wrong move and this man would butcher Nedry as easily as someone carving meat of a suckling joint.

"Out now!" Something frantic was in the man's voice. He had to keep his voice down. _You think dinosaurs are the worst thing out here tonight? _Undoubtedly this man was definitely more dangerous than any of the park's dinosaurs but the level of noise he was making would easily attract one of them. Something very stupid to do. Two Tyrannosaurs were out as well as the Dromaeosaur pack and god knows what else. If Ido and Domino were out so could Indy. Even the Yutyrannus were out, not to mention the mammalian and bird hunters. Smilodon, Caspian tigers and terror birds all made their home on Isla Nublar; any one of them could now be out.

Chiyo and Charlotte held onto the two kids as they stepped out of the jeep. Claire was shivering although he could not tell whether that was due to fear or the sudden coldness brought on thanks to the rain. Out of the corner of his eye he could see Chiyo gesturing her head towards something in the jeep. Machete wielder must have taken it for fear as well. He noticed it. Every jeep at Prehistoric Park for staff used contained a plastic spray bottle full of a noxious looking dark yellow liquid. It was concentrated Tyrannosaur urine. When sprayed it would send highly concentrated scents and chemicals found in Tyrannosaur urine onto a target. It would easily scare off smaller animals but had a nasty habit of attracting the larger carnivores. Like flies on a carcass large carnivores would come to the urine to challenge a newcomer for territory rights; the high concentration allowing one to come quickly. Every jeep had one so if something escaped a tour guide could spray it to drive something away from tourists, either by scaring or attracting it. Well only for the birds and dinosaurs, mammals usually marked their own territory when you sprayed it.

"Dios mio! Out the jeep!" He could see a sparkle come from the blade as the moon reflected off of it. It dangerously wavered over one of Nedry's jowls. Stubble on his cheek rubbed gently against the blade but droplets of crimson were still left behind. It was now or never. He grabbed the bottle from the side and pointed it at Machete Wielder. He went to create a new opening in Nedry until he spotted plastic bottle. A sickening laugh like someone gurgling water burst from his lips. Spittle flew from his mouth full of gleaming white teeth and landed on Nedry's other cheek.

"You had me there friend!" he laughed "Going to spray water on me like a little puppy?"

Nedry's eyes almost popped out of his skull when he saw the bottle and Claire blanched. Slowly those keeping Nedry hostage noticed that large red warning signs were printed on the side of the bottle. "Do you want to get us killed?" Claire asked angrily.

"_Es_ a bottle of piss!" Machete Wielder laughed again "Unless you mixed nitro-glycerine in with it."

"You said that you were worse than dinosaurs. Do you want to put that to the test?" His face portrayed nothing but icy coldness, he just hoped though that Machete Wielder wouldn't look down to see his legs buckling. A part of him felt like Dirty Harry. _Well, do ya, punk? _He doubted though that Clint Eastwood's knees felt like jelly in that scene though. "This is highly concentrated T Rex urine. All non-guest jeeps contain a bottle for emergencies. You don't want me to spray this."

"I've been pissed on by drunks in bars before," Machete Wielder spat waving his knife around. He could have easily taken off someone's arm doing that. "I cut off their cocks and washed my clothes the next day. Piss is easy to get off no matter what it's from."

"You don't get it." _Do I feel lucky? Well, do ya, punk? _"We have this for when something escapes. Animals get attracted to any place where this is sprayed. They come to mark their territory. Good range as well, I can hit you from here. You said that piss is easy to get out, how about getting it out when a dinosaur comes?"

Claire then joined in. "We have many different animals that would instantly come here when that's sprayed. Allosaurus, it could tear apart a Stegosaurus, Spinosaurus, the second largest meat eating dinosaur, T Rex, Velociraptors, those Dromaeosaurs that you saw earlier, Carnotaurus, Anzu… All will be coming along with the I Rex. Largest meat eating dinosaur that can turn invisible as well." He prayed that these people weren't well informed in regards to Prehistoric Park or dinosaurs. An Anzu would not dare attack a human unless threatened, an Allosaurus wouldn't be able to tear apart a Stegosaurus and overall most of those named were either on different islands, locked up or would run from the urine.

"There's a phrase, _never take a knife to a gun fight_," Machete Wielder started finally taking his machete away from Nedry's throat. "Looks like I take a knife to a piss fight. Name your terms boy."

"Release Dennis and throw all weapons away. Also tell us what's happening." Machete Wielder nodded and threw his namesake into some mud further ahead. Charlotte quickly ran up to it and picked it up. By the look on her face she was not comfortable holding the weapon. The man who held Dennis threw the poor man forward who fell face first into some mud. Jordan knelt down and picked him up. Chiyo immediately started fussing over him. Nedry's handler pulled a bowie knife from his sock and threw it at a tree; the blade impaled itself deep into the bark.

"Name's Gabriel Romero," Machete Wielder introduced looking sheepish. He gestured to Nedry's handler. "This here is Sam Heatcliff. Those two behind us are Laura Jameson and Ian Browning. There were two others; Jimmy Vargas and Billy Yoder. We were hired by an old pal of mine to escort these three to a boat on Isla Matanceros. Billy saw a Stegosaurus and decided he wanted to see it up close. Kid loved dinosaurs and was always rash. Poor bastard got spiked. About twenty minutes ago we lost Vargas. I saw something glide from the trees and thought it was a bat. Turned out to be those _hupia _things. One got a claw into his neck. He fought in Nicaragua for five years without a scratch…"

"You're mercenaries," Claire's nephew Gray gasped. He could feel goosebumps creep up along his arm.

"Aye kid we are. Wait we have one more sitting cosy on a boat; Angeline Lucius. She was to make sure our extraction went smoothly. Your River Tour's supposed to have some spare boats so we were to commandeer one, take it to the sea where Lucius was on hers and she would escort us to a nice big yacht outside your volcanic walls. Well that was until the storm hit. She hasn't radioed us back yet."

"That doesn't explain everything," Chiyo said bitterly. "Who hires mercenaries to kidnap a computer programmer and two interns? You being here obviously have something to do with the power outage and the gates opening. Likely one of those interns was hired as well."

Gabriel and Sam started laughing maliciously. Gabriel took some form of glee from his next sentence. "You think Nedry is a friend? Lewis Dodgson's hard cash is Nedry's only friend. Sweet dollars to turn off the power." He felt sick. Dennis gave a look which he otherwise would have pitied. He just wanted to smash his pudgy face in with a blunt instrument until all that was left was a bloody pulp. Two people had been killed, Ian Malcolm had been seriously injured, others had almost died and Maria was out there among hordes of ravenous carnivores thanks to this man. There was a red flash and Nedry was suddenly lying on his back with something sprawled on top of him. It was Chiyo! She was furiously punching him in the face screaming _'You're just like them!' _repeatedly. It was like she was possessed. Only through the combined strength of himself, Claire and Zach could they pull Chiyo off of him. She was still trying to kick the mud soaked traitor as they kept hold of her. Through the red mess that once was his nose there was fear etched across all of Nedry's face. A fear greater than when he was held at knife point by Gabriel. He could feel Chiyo seething under his grip; like a volcano ready to explode.

"John trusted you!" she spat trying to claw her way at him.

"Chiyo John wasn't the man who you thought he was!" Nedry said trying in vain to stop the blood issuing from his nose from going into his mouth. "I never had fast cars or expensive holidays, my businesses didn't go under through financial mismanagement, and my clients backing out had nothing to do with my reputation. John had rumors made up about me to justify his blackmailing of me. He blackmailed me into signing a contract forbidding me to take any clients until I had finished with Prehistoric Park. When I signed it I thought it was acceptable; I had signed the same deal with Disney Busan. John did not mention how I had to create complex algorithms centered around unpredictable animals in a short matter of time! Not to mention firewalls, complex programs, security systems and countless things on top. It could not be done and when I couldn't do it I started to go bankrupt! When Nigel gave me raises somebody ensured that I hardly saw a dime of it. Right under his nose."

He couldn't believe it. He had always imagined John Hammond as a kind grandfather like figure always smiling and had a good thing to say about everyone. Surely this was some desperate lie? Chiyo was seething under his hands, her face was fury incarnate. The look on Claire's face though ruined his image of John. "I'm sorry Chiyo. Only I knew about the deal with Nedry other than John. He's telling the truth."

She seemed to slump under him. Rage vanished to instantly be replaced by an emotion that he could not describe. Sadness, disappointment and dejection were written all across her face. The one thing that she could have relied on, the one good person in her life, had been taken away from her.

"The Chief Operations Officer of BioSyn Lewis Dodgson approached me." Dennis continued with his story. "Told me he was once a major researcher in the company and will be the CEO when Bill Steingarten retires next week. He wanted me to get two of his people into Prehistoric Park and close down a few systems. Not many but just enough to let these two to get into the Genetics Lab and take some embryos to catch up on years of research. Apparently a while ago he had someone sneak in to do the same but didn't expect what he saw. Please you have to believe me I had nothing to do with this…" He waved on short arm in the air. It was clear what he meant. Something in his face convinced him. Besides his story seemed too detailed to be made up. He felt his eyes stinging as if they had acid in them. Stupid tiredness! It had been too long a stressful day.

"Okay but that doesn't explain everything!" Jordan snapped. People had died and he wanted to know why they had.

"Screw this!" the BioSyn man Ian yelled despite the protests of the woman. "Bite me Laura. This is all Dodgson's fault and I don't want to be taken down with him! I don't want another Chile. Here have this as well." Ian gave Chiyo a USB stick although Dennis shuddered when she moved to accept it. Understandable after the beating she had given him. "When Dodgson's plans go sour he has a habit of getting others to lie on the chopping block for him. This was my backup. My brother is on the board and he sent me secret files detailing all the details of Dodgson's plan and puts him right in the firing line. He didn't want me to go down for Dodgson. It even gives Nedry a reprieve. He forgot to mention how he tried to back out when he developed a conscious and Dodgson started blackmailing him even worse than Hammond did. Saying that Hammond's blackmailing cannot even be called blackmailing it was that halfhearted. I think the only reason he's actually gone through with it because we actually arrived here today."

Dennis squirmed sending more droplets of blood from the mess that once was his nose onto the dark brown mud. Some level of respect for Nedry returned but it was minimal.

"Plenty of emails from Nedry saying that he doesn't want to betray Nigel's and John's trust. You read the files and you'll see that Dodgson even changed the plan without Nedry's knowledge. I don't know the full plan but my brother let me in on some of it. Seemed awfully quiet though. Along with the embryos we were supposed to take this…"

The other mercenary begrudgingly opened his rucksack and pulled out two items. One was a dark blue Barbasol can which must contain the embryos. The other was a shining silver object in the shape of a teardrop with a circular button embedded onto the center. It was the other time portal used on the missions.

"I don't know the full plan," Ian continued "but we were supposed to filch this time portal as well. Since InGen opened Prehistoric Park BioSyn's profits have plummeted. Dodgson's plan was to build our own Prehistoric Park on an artificial island outside of San Francisco and make a killing using the park and the findings made possible thanks to the extinct animals. To make it legitimate a time portal was needed but the UN for some reason won't release the blueprints…"

"It's to stop people from building their own and accidentally changing time." Gray started to explain after he saw that Chiyo was too furious to speak. "You can only change time if you do it by accident. If the UN released the blueprints big companies would create their own portals and could accidentally change time. In the Louis Theroux documentary _Inside the Sanctuary that Time Forgot_ Nigel Marven revealed that even their secret missions had to get UN approval." He had to admit that it made sense. The UN giving out the time portal blueprints would be the equivalent of Russia giving out the blueprints to the Tsar Bomba.

"You're smart kid. Anyway Dodgson wanted BioSyn to have its own park but it would be different to Prehistoric Park. The embryos would be used breed our own animals but they would be altered. Made more docile and some made to look more like what the public expects them to. You know Dilophosaurus with a crest and spitting venom, six foot tall intelligent Velociraptors, Dimetrodon being komodo dragons but with sails and that sort of thing. Dodgson would put it out that InGen's park had cloned or abused animals and that's why people couldn't get close to them and why the carnivores hardly fought each other. We were supposed to have the real deal and the time portal was supposed to be the evidence. If the UN got angry, well the animals were bred in the 21st century and not taken from the past. UN wouldn't be able to prosecute. That doctor's report about hybrids also got the board talking about breeding hybrid dinosaurs saying that we discovered new ones. The gates opening are new to me though. Quite possibly it is on that USB. Changes to the virus are new to us, honest. Password's **D0D145 **by the way."

It all made sense. If they were just stealing a time portal and embryos why did mercenaries have to be hired? Now stealing a time portal and embryos when the island is overrun with dangerous animals, that makes sense. A BioSyn Prehistoric Park full of cloned animals and all of Henry Wu's research would make them a fortune just by themselves. The added bonus of dinosaurs what the public imagined them to be like would propel BioSyn's park into stardom. Bizarre hybrids created using the knowledge from Henry Wu would further add to this. The time portal would appease the public and when Ban Ki-moon came sniffing around the fact that the animals were cloned would get them off BioSyn's back. Likely the virus opening the gates was part of the plan. One or two animals would maul and even kill guests which would create a stain on Prehistoric Park's image. It was impossible to predict the storm but that would probably be even more detrimental to InGen: one bad storm and all hell breaks loose. The media was like a bulldog, if it had something it would never let go, so now amount of counter evidence would convince them that InGen's park was both safe and legit. Probably all the charities and groups supporting the park like PETA would be taken down with InGen for endorsing a 'false' park. To top it all off it would be in San Francisco. Except for those living in Costa Rica itself getting to Prehistoric Park was a stressful ordeal, San Francisco was right there for most of the world.

The snapping of branches brought him to attention. Claire grabbed her nephews and put them behind her, Dennis gave a strange squeal and the even the mercenaries seemed scared witless. It was one thing facing an enemy with guns in your hands to protect yourself but out here they had no weapons facing some prehistoric hunter. At first he had assumed they had lied about how many weapons they had; judging by how they stood still in motionless fear this theory had been disproven. The hidden animal gave a sort of grunting sound. Mud squelched as it placed on foot into it which garnered a unanimous sigh of relief. It was a baby Triceratops. About the size of a sheep its frill was all distorted and the signature three horns were little more than stubs. Bristles covered its entire body rather than the hindquarters that just the adults exhibited.

"Is it dangerous?" the mercenary Sam asked. For such a big person his voice was very high pitched and squeaky. He was even shaking slightly. He shook his head. An adult or possibly even a juvenile Triceratops was dangerous (7/10 in the _Keeper's Guide_) but not one young as this. This was one abandoned by his/her mother, only the eldest was raised the rest were left to fend for themselves and hope they find an ankylosaurid to protect them. The young Triceratops was struggling to eat the modern day plants despite its hard beak. Suddenly there was a roar in the distance. It seemed to come from all around them. The young Triceratops shrieked and ran into the bush for safety.

"That could be coming from anywhere!" Chiyo gasped. "There's a cave system nearby which has a habit of reverberating sound all across this area. When the Dromaeosaurus escaped when we got it and he ran into the caves. Spent three days in there eating opossums."

"We need to get out of here," he ordered. The caves had distorted the roar so he couldn't tell who it belonged to. Either a Tyrannosaurus, Yutyrannus or even worse Indy. "I'll drive and Chiyo's in the front. The rest of you in the back. The crossroads should be nearby which will take us to the Perimeter Fence."

"No way am I going to your base. Costa Rica forbids mercenary work in its borders. I'll be arrested," Gabriel angrily spat. It seemed more of a threat than a simple refusal.

"Fine then," he replied trying to act nonchalantly. Clint Eastwood time again. "I can't tell what carnivorous dinosaur that is. We'll go and you can find out for me."

He could see Gabriel's face blanch and he sheepishly agreed to sit in the jeep with the others. It was the tight squeeze with Claire clinging onto Gray and Zach, Charlotte holding Gabriel's machete like it was an unexploded bomb, the two mercenaries, the two BioSyn agents and Nedry holding a sleeve to his nose which was greedily lapping up the blood. He noticed how Claire had tried to keep Zach and Gray as far away from the mercenaries as possible. As she sat in the front Chiro gave the vital USB stick to him to keep. The jeep trundled along at a slow pace. A mixture of the mud and the amount of people on board forbade the jeep from going at a fast distance. They passed _Peace Park _(formerly known as _Pleasant Park _until recently) where he saw the dark outline of a moa pecking the earth absentmindedly. It was outside its exhibit. When the jeep passed it went deeper into _Peace Park_.

"So you're mercenaries? How long have you been doing it for?" Zach asked eagerly despite Claire's protests. For a young person these strong swaggering outlaws were probably either a mixture of something to admire and fear. He heard Chiyo say an extremely crude swear word, which he had no idea that she even knew, under her breath. It was Gabriel who answered.

"I started in 1982. Trained in Chile and served in the Carabineros but there were more money in mercenary work. Went to Nicaragua and was hired by the Contras…"

"Oh you were trained by people who threw pregnant women out of planes on orders from the government and then were paid by murderers, rapists and torturers aided and abetted by Ronald Reagan and the CIA!" Chiyo spat back at him. He never paid attention in history and dropped it as he started GCSEs so most of what he knew about history came from Chiyo, well when she wasn't too shy to speak. He assumed that sometime in the past Chile had a repressive government and that Contras (whoever they were) weren't very nice people from what she said.

"There's more fire in you than just your hair little one. You learn to look away from such things if you want to survive. Served with the Contras until they won, except for a brief time in '89 where I met Dodgson. Spent the rest of the nineties in Angola where I met Sam here. In '93 he had just entered the business. Struggled to cope after the Gulf War. In '95 we left for Somalia, more work there, until 2009 when the Americans got involved. Been struggling for work since."

He had some satisfaction from that. A part of him pitied that Sam for struggling to readjust for life after the Gulf War but mercenary work was not the answer. Thousands of veterans came home and did not go round shooting people for money. He was glad that he now lived in a country which made mercenary work illegal. Behind him Dennis tried to speak.

"Chiyo I'm sorry what I said about John. He was a good man and he sometimes did let me take other contracts. He seemed very reluctant to blackmail me. He was a good man."

"I know that!" She seemed angry again and Charlotte had to lean into the front of the jeep to try and calm her. "Yes blackmailing someone is wrong but he honestly cared for you. Even good people do bad things sometimes. You still betrayed him. Not only did you betray him but you also betrayed Nigel. He always believed in you and if you had told him that you got hardly any of that money who would have made sure that you got every penny of it. Instead you threw it in his face."

A deathly silence followed that. Only the sound of crickets in the night chirruping away could be heard and the gentle hum of the engine. The headlights focused on the crossroads ahead. His heart dropped. The signpost which showed the way to Main Street and other areas had been blown down. One arrow was half submerged in the mud. Normally on night shift the darkness of the sky and black outlines of the trees obscured the Perimeter Fence. Tonight was no exception. With no other choice he had to park and try to right the signpost. Eager to stretch their legs everyone else did except for Dennis and Gabriel who was gently rubbing his hand over the rucksack containing the Barbasol cans (with so many embryos more than one can was needed). Dennis looked forlornly into his palms. He, Claire and the BioSyn agents were the ones to lift back up the signpost.

"I'm going to kill Henry!" Claire said as she helped heave the signpost out of the mud. With a squelch it tore from the glutinous earth. "With his hybrid paper he was going to be ethical for once but no. Being ethical would be boring. No he had to tell the world that creating hybrids could solve everything from military problems to entertainment and get the credit for the biggest breakthrough in genetics since DNA as discovered."

They managed to right the signpost. The arrow to _Morrison Formation_ had been snapped off during the storm and the one for Main Street was half caked in mud but still legible. They stepped out of the way and let the signpost sink back into the mud. He felt a presence. Goosebumps rose up on his arms like a violent rash. The hairs on his arms stood erect like an electric current had passed over them. It felt like he was being watched. Sam the mercenary screamed and ran deep into the forest in the opposite direction earning catcalls of _coward_, _cobarde _and _carbon_ from Gabriel. Gabriel too turned as white as snow when he looked opposite the road.

There was a silhouette. It was easily over five metres in height the silhouette perfectly blended in with the night behind it. Blue-black started to dissipate to turn white…

"Run into the bushes!" Chiyo yelled. He, Claire, Zach, Gray, Chiyo and Charlotte all ran to the sanctuary of the lush bushes across the crossroad. The engine of the jeep purred into existence and drove off sending mud splashing everywhere. That turncloak Gabriel! The two BioSyn agents stood motionless.

"Stand still Laura they're vision's based on movement!" Ian incorrectly advised. That was wrong though! People who thought they knew about dinosaurs always believed that T Rex's vision was based on movement. That was proven false two decades before Prehistoric Park opened and anyway that's not T Rex!

He vomited. Only he saw it as everyone else looked away in time. Her teeth filled jaw closed on the top half of Ian's body and lifted him into the air. He burst, that was the only word that could describe it. It was like someone standing on a blood orange. Red poured from his body like red water from a tap staining his dark blue trousers an unearthly colour. This can't be happening! The blood just kept on coming. Laura screamed. Indy shook her head like a dog shaking a bone and what remained of Ian fell down. Dark red legs sprawled in the mud painfully with long bloodied sausages pale blue in color issuing from the stump. He vomited again. He had just seen a man die!

"Run!" Claire yelled at him, tears streaming down her face. He could feel water building up in his eyes and run down his cheek like raindrops. Oh Christ! Laura's scream cut short suddenly. He didn't want to look. He didn't want to see her trousers go from dark blue to dark red. He didn't want to see her life end as meaninglessly as Ian's did. How could Gabriel talk so nonchalantly about death? He had just seen it in all its horrific glory. Laura and Ian both had lives. All ended in a bite.

"She's coming!" Zach yelled. He could hear footsteps behind them. A low hiss pierced the night like a blade. Indominus have ravenous appetites and he did not fancy any more people joining Ian and Laura's fate. The Perimeter Fence! The normally hulking monstrosity now looked like a blessed savior. Chiyo ran up to the gate and opened it letting them in. The lights at the top of the fence were still off! Guests screamed as they saw Indy running, the jaws of hell agape, towards them. As she reach the fencing there was a buzzing and blinding electrical lights issued from where Indy had tried to bite the gate. She gave a pitiful roar and slunk back off into the night. The power was back on!

"Are you two alright?" Claire asked her nephews who both nodded. At least four people had died. Jimmy Vargas, Billy Yoder, Ian Browning and Laura Jameson. It wasn't the fault of Indy, the Dromaeosaurs or the Stegosaurus. Dennis had desperately tried to back out so it definitely wasn't his fault. It was Lewis Dodgson. He fingered the USB stick which contained all the files that would incriminate him. If anything has happened to Maria though the police would have to get to him quickly. If anything has happened to Maria he was going to kill the bastard himself.


	18. Prehistoric Park Website Part 5

**Meet the Animals-Mesozoic**

_Prehistoric Park exhibits a wide array of dinosaurs and other animals that lived alongside them. We have so many that we can only show you a few of them here!_

_Pteranodon_

_Species at the park: _longiceps

_Name meaning: _Toothless Wing

_Habitat: _Coasts, specifically cliffs

_Age: _Coniacian to Campanian of the Cretaceous, 86-84 million years ago

_Size: _5.6 meter wingspan for males, 3.5 meter wingspan for females

_Diet: _Fish and squid

_Distribution: _Eastern USA

Pteranodon is one of the most famous pterosaurs and is one of Prehistoric Park's most iconic flying animals. Our colony can be found in the Pterosaur Aviary on Isla Nublar where their enclosure actually encompasses a real life cliff face to best simulate their natural habitat. In the wild Pteranodon would hunt by diving into the water as a sea bird would so they could use their wings to swim after fish. At Prehistoric Park our Pteranodon can be seen doing this except that they will often bob on the surface like a seagull for longer than they would do in the wild. This is mostly because they have realised that the aquatic carnivores that normally would attack them can no longer get to them. Most of the time though Pteranodon will mob other members of its species or other pterosaurs who have food until they drop the food. Pteranodon males have a blue crest for most of the year but during the mating season the crest will turn different colors to attract a mate.

**Did you Know?**

Pteranodon males are polygynous which means they mate with more than one female. During the mating season Pteranodon males will often battle it out to get the largest harem as possible.

_Ceratosaurus_

_Species at the park: _Hammondicus

_Name meaning: _Horned lizard

_Habitat: _Wetlands and Floodplains

_Age: _Kimmeridgian to Tithonian of the Jurassic, 153-148 million years ago

_Size: _6 meters long

_Diet: _Fish, crocodiles, pterosaurs and herbivorous dinosaurs

_Distribution: _Wyoming, Portugal and Tanzania

Ceratosaurus is a very unique dinosaur exhibiting its famous nasal horn. This horn was brightly colored to attract mates but in very rare cases could also be used to duel other Ceratosaurs. Juveniles have two nasal horns but they merge together as they get older to form one large horn. Ceratosaurus lived alongside other giant carnivores such as Allosaurus and Torvosaurus but to avoid competing with them it would hunt along floodplains and rivers for fish, crocodiles and any herbivorous dinosaurs like Dryosaurus or Stegosaurus which came to the river to drink. They are very good swimmers and especially in the wet season you can see them wading through their personal lake looking for fish.

**Did you Know?**

Our Ceratosaurus came from the Tendaguru Formation in Tanzania. Their teeth were thought to be a new species called Labrosaurus stechowi but were found to be an indeterminate species of Ceratosaurus. When they were rescued Nigel Marven tried to bring back an old, invalid species name for them but this was not allowed. It was decided then to name the new species after InGen owner John Hammond.

_Eoraptor_

_Name meaning: _Dawn thief

_Habitat: _Forests

_Age: _Ladinian of the Triassic, 231 million years ago

_Size: _1 meter long

_Diet: _Eggs, baby dinosaurs and some plants

_Distribution: _Argentina

Eoraptor is one of the most primitive dinosaurs and is currently Prehistoric Park's oldest known dinosaurs. They would later be outcompeted by larger dinosaurs like Herrerasaurus. Eoraptors are in a group called eusaurischids with it exhibiting traits found in both sauropodomorphs and theropods. Their teeth are specially adapted to tackle both plants and meat making them very adaptable and their small size helped them evade large carnivores such as Saurosuchus. Our Eoraptor can be found on Isla Matanceros but you have to come at night. Eoraptor are nocturnal and only leave their hiding places at dusk where their large eyes help them see in the low light. This helps them evade predators and get up close to nests to steal eggs.

**Did you Know?**

Despite their name Eoraptor has no relation to the paraves group, (dromaeosaurids, troodontids and modern birds), other than being a possible ancestor. Eoraptor lived around eighty million years before they even appeared! The name 'raptor' is Latin for 'thief' which many extinct paraves have in their name leading to the confusion.

_Stephanoceras_

_Species at the park: _blagdeni

_Name meaning: _Crown horn

_Habitat: _Reefs and open oceans

_Age: _Jurassic, 174-168 million years ago

_Size: _A shell with 6-28 centimeters in diameter

_Diet: _Plankton

_Distribution: _Europe, Mexico and USA

Stephanoceras is an ammonite from the mid-Jurassic, a group of shelled cephalopods that prospered during the age of the dinosaurs. This species used to float along the ocean currents using their tentacles to direct plankton to their beak to eat. When threatened they will retreat into their shell for protection. During mating time they will go to the nearest reef where they will lay their eggs in a crevice to protect their eggs from predators. At Prehistoric Park our ammonites have two tanks in the Aquarium, one is for most of the year where they will sit in currents, and the other is for them to lay their eggs. Prehistoric Park's population has exploded with most of their eggs hatching thanks to a lack of predation. Our population now exceeds ninety individuals!

**Did you Know?**

Stephanoceras shells are some of the best preserved ammonite shells. During the Middle Ages some were thought to be snakes turned to stone as punishment from God. Some merchants even carved snake heads onto some to sell to unsuspecting people!

_Parasaurolophus_

_Species at the park: _tubicen

_Name meaning: _Near lizard crest

_Habitat: _Floodplains

_Age: _Campanian of the Cretaceous, 76-73 million years ago

_Size: _9.5 meters long

_Diet: _Plants

_Distribution: _USA and Canada

Parasaurolophus is possibly the most famous lambeosaurid with its signature curved head crest. At Prehistoric Park we exhibit the species from New Mexico (although for a few months it was believed to be the more famous walkeri species) which is the most vocal species. The crest of a Parasaurolophus contains many different chambers which they pass air through to make different noises at frequencies ranging from 55 to 720Hz. At Prehistoric Park we have a large herd of Parasaurolophus and they act as they do in the wild. Our males stay on the outskirts of their territory on the lookout for predators. No trip to Prehistoric Park is complete without seeing these majestic dinosaurs. There is no best way to see our Parasaurolophus because of eager they are to see new people; Nigel Marven personally recommends the Gyrosphere tour as they like to come right up close to you!

**Did you Know?**

No two Parasaurolophus crests are the same. Each crest is brightly colored with certain patterns on it so Parasaurolophus can tell one another apart. Their good eyesight means that they can tell who is related to who in the herd.

_Tylosaurus_

_Species at the park: _kansasensis

_Name meaning: _Knob lizard

_Habitat: _Open oceans

_Age: _Late Cretaceous, 88-79 million years ago

_Size: _15 meters long

_Diet: _Sharks, large fish, ammonites, sea birds, turtles, pterosaurs, elasmosaurs and smaller mosasaurs

_Distribution: _Canada and USA

Tylosaurus was one of the largest mosasaurs to ever stalk the seas of the Cretaceous. Being at the top of the food chain everything was on the menu for an adult Tylosaurus ranging from sharks the size of tiger sharks to giant sea turtles. Their powerful jaws could easily smash through shells and bone but quite often a Tylosaurus would stun prey by ramming into them with their pointed snout. This would keep the prey disoriented and provide less risk to the mosasaur. However their size means that they do not tolerate other mosasaurs being near and as a result we keep each Tylosaurus separate. For safety reasons you cannot see any of our Tylosaurus from the Boat Trip but you can see them from the Underwater Walkway. With their large appetites we feed the Tylosaurus often so if you are one not of a nervous disposition, and can stomach some blood, the daily Tylosaurus Feeding Show will perfectly show you the power of a mosasaur.

**Did you Know?**

It was once thought that mosasaurs like Tylosaurus swam in an S-motion like an eel. This theory was debunked years before Prehistoric Park was created. We now know that they will propel themselves forward using their powerful tail and steer themselves with their fins.

_Stegosaurus_

_Species at the park: _armatus

_Name meaning: _Roof lizard

_Habitat: _Fern plains

_Age: _Late Jurassic, 155-150 million years ago

_Size: _9 meters long

_Diet: _Fruit and soft plants

_Distribution: _USA and Portugal

Easily one of the most famous dinosaurs is the Stegosaurus. At Prehistoric Park we have one species of this famous dinosaur from Jurassic Wyoming. The most famous part of the Stegosaurus is its signature plates which varied in shape in size through species, sex and age. These plates were used for communication with other stegosaurs or to intimidate carnivores by making them flush red to scare them away. They can even be used for heat regulation. When hot a Stegosaurus will fill the blood vessels full of blood to enable heat to be lost quickly, similarly to how our faces turn red when we are hot. Our Stegosaurus can be found in _Jurassic Heights_ where they will wallow by the lakeside or snuffling through the undergrowth for fruits. At Prehistoric Park we take pride in our Stegosaurus family who will astonish you when you see them.

**Did you Know?**

Stegosaurus could not chew their food and they did not eat gastroliths. All of their diet consisted of soft plant matter which could be easily broken up by their weak teeth.

_Velociraptor_

_Species at the park: _mongoliensis

_Name meaning: _Swift thief

_Habitat: _Shrubs and semi-arid deserts

_Age: _Late Cretaceous, 75-71 million years ago

_Size: _2 meters long

_Diet: _Mammals, small herbivorous dinosaurs, lizards and small mammals

_Distribution: _Mongolia and China

The real life Velociraptor is very much different from their media portrayal. As smart as an ordinary house cat, as high as your knee and living in pairs they are no less still impressive. One singular Velociraptor can tackle and take down an animal, like Protoceratops, almost twice its weight. During a hunt a Velociraptor will stab its prey in its throat to suffocate the unfortunate dinosaur. In times of hardship they will abandon their solitary or pair lifestyle to form packs of five to six to ensure hunts go smoothly. When they do form pairs though they are often breeding pairs and will mate for life. Velociraptors are truly spectacular and are a must see for any dinosaur lover. Unlike other raptors they are diurnal (comes out in the day) but are most active at dusk and dawn when the heat is less intense so we advise you to see them then.

**Did you Know?**

Velociraptor claws are very good at gripping so when tackling something larger than them they will hang onto their prey. If they cannot reach the throat instead they will bite and claw them while still hanging onto the prey's side until the prey dies of blood loss.

_Yi qi_

_Name meaning: _Strange wing

_Habitat: _Forests

_Age: _Jurassic, 160 million years ago

_Size: _30 centimeter wingspan

_Diet: _Grubs, lizards and eggs

_Distribution: _China

The Yi qi is a recently discovered dinosaur from Jurassic China that has become one of Prehistoric Park's iconic residents. Their most striking feature is their bat like wings but unlike a bat they cannot fly. Yi qi instead will glide similarly to flying squirrels and other Mesozoic tree dwellers such as Microraptor. They are very shy dinosaurs only coming out in the night and will often hide away when others who they do not recognize come near them. We advise you to use our binoculars supplied outside their enclosure to look out these unique dinosaurs. The best way to see them is to look at holes in tree trunks where they will normally look for eggs to eat.

**Did you Know?**

Currently only one Yi qi fossil has been discovered and is almost perfectly preserved, its feathers and wing membrane can easily be seen imprinted on the fossil slab that it was discovered on.

_Brachiosaurus_

_Name meaning: _Arm lizard

_Habitat: _Forest edges

_Age: _Late Jurassic, 154-153 million years ago

_Size: _17 meters tall

_Diet: _Tops of trees

_Distribution: _Wyoming

Brachiosaurus is not only Prehistoric Park's tallest dinosaur but holds the distinction of being one of the tallest dinosaurs in existence. We have a small herd in our _Jurassic Heights _exhibit where they make the already humongous Apatosaurus and Diplodocus look tiny. At 35 metric tonnes one Brachiosaurus has to eat constantly to keep itself moving. Their teeth are specially adapted to shearing plant matter and they will preferably eat from the tops of trees which they can easily reach using their long necks. This allows them to live alongside other large sauropods without competing with them. The Brachiosaurus is a gently giant that will humble anyone with its massive size. At Prehistoric Park we love the Brachiosaurus so much that it will be the first dinosaur to great you as you arrive at the park.

**Did you Know?**

Brachiosaurus is often portrayed as rearing up on its hind legs. In real life this is impossible as if it put its colossus weight on their short hind legs it would actually break them. In fact Brachiosaurus have to live on mostly flat land as their weight makes it hard for them to go up even gentle inclines.

Spinosaurus

_Species at the park: _aegypticus

_Name meaning: _Spine lizard

_Habitat: _Rivers and wetlands

_Age: _mid-Cretaceous, 112-97 million years ago

_Size: _12.6-18 meters long

_Diet: _Fish, plesiosaurs, crocodiles and carrion

_Distribution: _Egypt and Morocco

Spinosaurus was the largest carnivorous dinosaur until the discovery of the Indominus Rex last year. It is also one of the most unique living primarily in the water and having a quadrupedal gait. Expert swimmers the Spinosaurus will spend most of its time swimming in the Egyptian rivers or fishing for prey at the side of the water. Spinosaurus snouts end in a series of very sensitive nerves which can detect a fish swimming past and their nostrils being high up their snout allows them to fish for hours at a time. At Prehistoric Park we have three adult Spinosaurs and three newly hatched chicks who spend their time swimming among mangrove trees for protection as they would in the wild. It is equally as easy to see Spinosaurus in the night and the day with the fact that they swim near the surface of the water during the day and rest on the riverbank at night.

**Did you Know?**

With Spinosaurus having such a specialized diet consisting of fish they can actually live alongside other large carnivores like Carcharodontosaurus without competing with one another. Only during droughts when the rivers dry up will they compete where a Spinosaurus would use its large size to intimidate an opponent.

_Triceratops_

_Species at the park: _horridus

_Name meaning: _Three horned face

_Habitat: _Open plains

_Age: _Late Cretaceous, 68-65 million years ago

_Size: _8-9 meters long

_Diet: _Primarily ferns, cycads and palms. May eat eggs and carrion to supplement diet.

_Distribution: _Canada and USA

With three horns and its great frill the Triceratops is instantly recognizable whether you know about dinosaurs or not. Triceratops can be viewed as the rhinos of the Cretaceous living in small herds of up to five individuals as otherwise fights for dominance break out. Normally a herd will consist of one or two males ruling a harem, for this reason houses a staggering three Triceratops herds! Triceratops beaks are very powerful and are used to easily shear through tough vegetation such as cycads which allowed them to dominate the Late Cretaceous. Like modern hippos Triceratops will occasionally supplement their diets being eating unfertilized eggs or carrion for extra protein; their beaks easily snapping bone and egg shells for the protein it may be lacking. One thing most noticeable about the Triceratops is their three horns but unlike rhinos they do not charge. Any charging that you see are actually mock charges because Triceratops horns can be easily damaged. Instead when fighting they lock horns but when attacked by a carnivore like Tyrannosaurus they will try and gore their opponent. Triceratops is a priority when visiting Prehistoric Park and we advise the Jeep Wrangler Tour to get up close and personal with these horned giants. **New to 2016: the Gyrosphere Tour now lets you get up close with these beautiful dinosaurs for an even greater experience.**

**Did you Know?**

The frill of a Triceratops is full of blood vessels. This allows the dinosaur to pump blood through the veins to act as a warning to predators or a greeting to friends.

_Tyrannosaurus Rex_

_Name meaning: _Tyrant lizard king

_Habitat: _Open plains and forest edges

_Age: _Late Cretaceous, 68-65 million years ago

_Size: _12.3 meters long

_Diet: _Ceratopsians, hadrosaurs, ornithomimids, fish, eggs, smaller Tyrannosaurs and carrion

_Distribution: _Western North America

T Rex is truly the King of the Dinosaurs. Adult Tyrannosaurus normally live in mated pairs but juveniles and young adults live in small packs to maximise hunting success and to avoid larger Tyrannosaurs. It is not unusual for young Tyrannosaurs to join adult pairs when hunting and at Prehistoric Park this can be seen with are young adults, Cronus and Jane, dogging our adult pair, Terrance and Matilda, on hunts. An adult Tyrannosaurus could run at speeds of up to 28km/h but this was slow compared to their common prey, such as hadrosaurs. Instead of outrunning prey like a raptor the Tyrannosaurus was instead an ambush hunter, waiting in the undergrowth until the most opportune moment before striking, relying on its long stride to out stride prey. A bite laden with bacteria also allows the Tyrannosaurus to take down a dinosaur like Triceratops if they could not take it down immediately, something similar to modern komodo dragons. Despite their reputation Tyrannosaurs are very good parents with both parents taking turns to care for their chicks until they reach a size where they can fend for themselves. At Prehistoric Park we exhibit seven Tyrannosaurs and are a true sight to behold. With their roars being heard from the other side of Isla Nublar at times they will truly dominate your holiday! **We are happy to announce a new arrival to Tyrannosaurus Kingdom: Sahara! **

**Did you Know?**

A Tyrannosaurus had a bite force of 12,800 pounds and is one of the most powerful bites in history! It is three and a half times as great as the current highest bite force, that of the saltwater crocodile.

_Indominus Rex_

**We apologize but for safety reasons we have taken the Indominus Rex off of public viewing until the 23rd of August. **


	19. Fight Back

Fight Back

Golden squares started appearing from nowhere all around him. Every shop, restaurant and information stand was suddenly resurrected in golden bliss. He never noticed them. All he could think about was the Indominus trying to claw her way into the Perimeter Fence and the USB stick in his pocket. A voice in Mandarin came over the speaker system before switching to French, then Arabic, then English and so on and so forth. It all said the same thing. Prehistoric Park has been victim to a corporate spy and that everyone should remain indoors or behind the Perimeter Fence. In the back of his mind he wondered how they knew corporate espionage was at work. With all that had happened he had almost forgot that shit started to hit the fan as soon as one of Nedry's 'interns' typed something into a computer.

"Jordan we need to get that USB to control!" Chiyo said shaking him out of his shock. A few guests were standing nearby in an equal state of shock; it must have been a sight. Three park staff and three guests narrowly escaping the newly discovered dinosaur that could turn camouflage itself. He reached for his phone to ring Maria. Without the park's cell tower or Wi-Fi it was impossible to get a signal. Hopefully with the power back on he could find her. His heart stopped. His Samsung Galaxy had been completely wrecked. Large cracks crisscrossed the screen and several buttons had imploded on themselves. When he had jumped into the bush during the Indominus attack it must have smashed. Great. He doubted his insurance would cover _dinosaur attacks_.

Guests cowered inside Winston's Steak House as they passed. The roar of an Indominus was definitely louder than the sizzle of a steak. They trudged up the mud soaked path towards Control and entered. A wash of noise and bright lights greeted them as they entered. The large map of the islands on the colossus computer screen covering one wall was awash in red dots. It was as if the screen had somehow contracted chicken pox. John Arnold had abandoned his nicotine gum strips and had started smoking a real life cigarette filling the area around him with grey smoke. Every computer operator was pressing buttons on their screens. He gave the USB stick to Chiyo who duly went up to a free computer and plugged it in.

"Password?" she asked. **D0D145**. He told her. Soon the screen flashed up with a folder containing dozens, if not hundreds, of files. She did a few clicks before standing up. "The entire contents of that USB stick have now been uploaded onto the internet. I can edit the Prehistoric Park website from these computers only so I've uploaded the files onto there. When we opened for the first time I made a few friends. Friends from the BBC, Al-Jazeera, CNN and NHK specifically. To top it all of WikiLeaks now has a large section on BioSyn."

John Arnold looked puzzled until Claire explained what had happened to him. Outrage soon replaced puzzlement. Out of the corner of his eye he could see Arnold opening a new tab sporting the WikiLeaks logo. Assange may have liked the documents because he could see that they were already uploaded for the public to see. It was lucky that Chiyo knew the right people to send the documents to. Overnight WikiLeaks had rocked the world in 2013 with Edward Snowden's files and tonight it had just about saved InGen from the world's biggest lawsuit.

"That BioSyn bastard knew most of Dodgson's plan," Arnold angrily said. "Says here that Dodgson said that if anyone dies of course it would be regrettable. He also says that if anyone does die it would be another nail in the coffin for InGen. Basically this guy's saying that he doesn't want anyone to die but if anyone does well, that's life. Jordan did you want something?"

He had been edging towards the computer to subtly ask Arnold something. The engineer smiled and nodded before he started to type away. Relationships are only allowed in Prehistoric Park if everyone knows about them, privacy only existed as a dictionary definition. One of the screens shifted from the roaring sea at one of the docks to inside the Aquarium. Mary was talking to a group of people while Maria was nonchalantly leaning on a glass tank. Her wavy chestnut hair elegantly swept over her shoulders and he could see her sparkling hazel eyes over the camera. In the murky water behind her the sparkling scales of a Megapiranha could be seen.

"Speak through this microphone. It will go directly into her headset," John said bending a silver point ending in a soft black circle in his direction. When he imagined Control speaking to the keepers this was not how he imagined it.

"Maria," he said. On the screen he could see Maria pull a face and hold her hand to her right ear. Despite the low light of the Amazon section of the Aquarium he could see her eyes sparkle.

"Jordan! What's going on? A few hours ago all the power went off except for the heaters and stuff like that in the tanks. There was a deadlock seal on the Aquarium doors that can only open from the outside so we couldn't get out. When the power came on the intercom said stay inside. What's happening?"

"Thank god you're okay. It's a long story but some corporate spies have opened all the gates and shut down the power. Thank god you're fine. A few carnivores are out…"

"Holy f…" He had never heard her swear before. She definitely knew that the situation was dire. "Is Chiyo okay?" He gave her a rushed answer. It was best that he didn't worry her about encountering three Indominus and Matilda. "Even the sea exhibits…"

He had completely forgotten about the sea exhibits. Most of the traditional tanks had been replaced by sonar systems for the sea exhibits. Instead of a giant ungainly Plexiglas wall keeping the sea animals instead sonar waves would. More natural that way. The only tanks left were the Archelon, adult Megalodon and the Predator X Winter tank. If the power went out how many aquatic residents were also out? Arnold grabbed the microphone from him and started giving Maria some instructions. There was a tap on his shoulder.

"We have some beds round back," Claire explained. "You've earnt a rest. Maria will be fine. Get some sleep and if you want you can help with the clean up tomorrow."

A searing pain in his eyes just then reminded him of how tired he was. With all that had been happening he had completely forgotten that he had been up for just over seventeen hours. Lazily he traipsed down the corridor to the room that Claire had mentioned. None of the beds looked appealing with them all being the same shade of dirty grey with the odd spring sticking out of the mattress but he didn't care. They could have been a pile of bricks painted grey for all he cared. He rested his head on a lumpy pillow and closed his eyes. He didn't have a peaceful sleep though. Constantly through the black he could see a white jaw clenching onto a frail body, bursting like a balloon. Sometimes it was himself, he could feel the knives stab through his stomach. Sometimes it was Chiyo, or Maria, or Winston, or Nigel. Each time he could see the cold eyes fixing them before snuffing out all that they ever were in a snap of her jaws.

_6:00am_

He woke. Conor had just narrowly avoided bursting as well. Groggily he looked around the room. Gray, Zach and Charlotte each occupied a bed with their chests rising and falling slowly. John Arnold laid on his back, an unlit cigarette flopping at the edge of his mouth, and he snored loudly. Sounded somewhat like the stomach of an Argentinosaurus growling for vegetation. His watch read six in the morning. He got up and walked to the Control centre. Chiyo was watching the screens intently. Jealousy rumbled in his chest, she could only have four hours of sleep a night and still be full of energy.

"Morning," she said handing him a cup of coffee. "Matilda was caught about ten minutes ago. Well I should say that she went to the docks, stole a cow that was going to be sent to Winston's Steak House and went back to her exhibit. Cronus went to the Perimeter Fence with results that we can expect. A Brachiosaurus somehow got out and stood on a section of fencing in the Phorusrhacos exhibit, Phil is out. Finally the Costa Rican air force, well technically it isn't the air force because Costa Rica disbanded all sections of the military in 1948 following the end of…"

"Chiyo," Lowry said with a tired pang. "It's too early for a history lesson." Normally he would personally be interested in why Costa Rica didn't have an army, air force or navy since 1948 but it was too early. He took a sip of coffee and spluttered due to the heat.

"Sorry," she replied sheepishly. "The Costa Rican government is sending six of the thirteen aircraft that they have in a few hours to get injured or very scared people out. Owen's been training the Utahraptors so he's using them to scout out dangerous animals on Tacano, Claire's helping, Lex is overseeing some of the recapturing on Sorna, Bob has broken his arm basically being a hero. He jumped into a pool with a pregnant woman to stop Indy getting her. I'm sorry." She went oddly quiet then. What had happened? "There have been two fatalities. Two guests were killed by Indy. Lindsey Carter and Logan Hunt. What…what was left of them was found outside her enclosure. They m…must have been near when she got out."

His stomach gave a sickening lurch. He had never known them but he felt crushed. They were probably an ordinary couple. A couple just like him and Maria. They came to Prehistoric Park for an adventure of a lifetime. _I hope you're happy Dodgson. Were their deaths regrettable? _His anger abated when Lowry shouted something along the lines of '_what the hell if he doing?'_. On the screen Nigel was driving a jeep around the muscular legs of an entire Mapusaurus pack. There was no sound coming from the screen but he could imagine how loud it must be. Each Mapusaurus was bellowing. They ran after the jeep with every jaw outstretched to tear a chunk out of the metal monstrosity. The jeep thundered through an exhibit entrance which each dinosaur following. The camera had no time to pan out when the jeep thundered out of the exhibit with Nigel leaning out the driver's seat waving at the camera. Lowry quickly fumbled at his computer and the gates to the exhibit slammed shut.

"That man's a nightmare," he said laughing. "Earlier he used himself as bait to get a Paraentelodon to chase him. Thanks to him we only have one Velociraptor out. You two have been asked to help with the relief effort on Sorna. All the guests on Nublar are either inside or behind the Perimeter Fence."

He drained the last sludge of his coffee and started heading towards the exit with Chiyo. As he was leaving he heard Lowry complain down a microphone about how Muldoon had vanished off of the face of the earth. Chiyo explained to him the plan. They would take a jeep and go through the maintenance tunnels. Back when John Hammond was making Jurassic Park he had a series of tunnels built under the island chain to move animals, food etc. Although no animal had ever been transported through the tunnels they were used often to move building materials. It was perfectly fine for staff to use them just to get about but the monorail was preferable. Rats infested the tunnels. Another thing, other than who was in a relationship, which was widely known at Prehistoric Park, was how Claire had wanted to let lose the Dromaeosaur pack to hunt down the rats.

"And don't worry," Chiyo said reassuringly "Maria will be fine."

He nodded in agreement. Maria was very capable and Prehistoric Park was like a second home to her. A third thing widely known at Prehistoric Park was how the two people who knew the park topography the best were Nima Cruz and Maria. The nearest entrance to the tunnels was a simple walk down the road. For some reason, goodness knows why, the tunnels had a deadlock seal on them that activated when the power went off. One of the many glitches in the system was how the seal could not be undone until the power turned back on. Chiyo swiped her card on the door of the entrance. With a deep creak the door swung open. Other than the rats there was another reason why people hated using the tunnels; they looked dismal. Foreboding concrete walls dimly lit by weak light bulbs periodically placed along the ceiling were not as appealing by any means to the purple mountains, rising mists and thick forests visible from the monorail. They descended a short walkway down into the depths of the tunnels. It was his first time down there. A low level searing heat roared against his skin. Beads of sweat wept down his face.

"When Hammond said 'we spared no expense' he conveniently left out the part where he skipped on air conditioning down here," Chiyo said with a sly smile. The adrenaline must be getting to Chiyo. It was a rare thing for her to joke. Embedded in the walls were some signs showing different directions in English, Spanish, Mandarin, Russian and German. One read **Geothermal Energy Plant**, (he wondered how much time they could have saved if there wasn't the deadlock seal glitch in the system), another read **Marine Facility (Pierre Shale)** and third **Marine Facility (Kimmeridge Waters)**. They were most likely for staff only. The Underwater Walkways for public use only allowed a small fraction of the marine exhibits to be seen.

"Down this way. Watch the rats." Chiyo instructed him. There was another big sign reading **Vehicles**. He followed her sending little brown bodies scattering with loud squeaks. Their footsteps rang loudly on the concrete flooring as they walked towards the vehicles. The occasionally moth battered back and forth against the bright lightbulbs which did nothing to alleviate the foreboding atmosphere of the tunnels. Chiyo turned right, then left and then swiped her card against a door. Inside were a series of Toyota pickup jeeps each fitted with a water hose and a fairly large water tank. So these were the jeeps used for animal recapture. All his time at Prehistoric Park the only escaped animals had been small so the jeeps would have been overkill. Maria had informed him about how Phil the Phorusrhacos would constantly escape until Bob managed to fix the fencing the day before the park opened. When this is all other it looks like Phil will be making a few attempts for freedom again.

Chiyo climbed into the front of the nearest jeep and he climbed in next to her. Seemingly, Hammond spared no expense with the jeeps. It had been highly customised to have remote exhibit gate control, access to staff headsets and a very in depth map on the dashboard of the island chain. Judging by it they were just off of the north coast of Isla Nublar. Chiyo pressed a button on the dashboard and a large corrugated iron door in front of them slid open. She put the jeep into gear and drove forward. Going through the tunnels went much faster (and easier with air conditioning in the jeep) and soon signs reading **Isla Sorna **could be seen.

"Do you think anyone's got hurt?" he asked. If anyone did that would play right into the hands of Dodgson. Every bite would create an extra lawsuit that InGen would have to deal with. Although with Chiyo's general pessimism on life he doubted that he would get an unbiased answer from her.

"I don't know." That did surprise him. "Someone with a hero complex would probably get injured doing something reckless." He had a feeling who she was meaning. "We keep all our animals well fed, we don't abuse them and humans are a curiosity to most of them. That means none of the animals will attack someone unless attacked themselves. Everyone's been exaggerating how many animals have escaped as well. With us only having a small amount of fencing that means there was only a small area to escape from. The Baryonyx, Fukuisaurus, Spinosaurus and Caspian tigers just to name a few never escaped."

The concrete floor in front of them started to rise. It became steep before leveling off again in front of another corrugated iron door. Chiyo mumbled something about access codes. Inside the glove compartment there was a small black book which read _Access Codes_ on the front. Judging by the large letters saying **Sorna N** they needed the access codes for the northern vehicle entrance. **023874**. A clanging sound followed and the corrugated doors slid open. As soon as they drove out the doors started clanging shut again. At Chiyo's request he started tuning the jeep into the staff headsets. No signal could be obtained in the tunnels thanks to the thick concrete walls. One of the first voices to come through the radio was Owen Grady's:

"_Owen Grady here, staff number 0143. Utahraptors have killed Ajay Sighu and have mauled Robert Muldoon, he is being rushed to the nearest doctor. Victor Hoskins has been attacked by a Troodon formosus after he tried to manhandle one but should be fine. All Utahraptors and Troodon are now in their exhibits."_

He could see Chiyo blanch. To reassure her he placed a hand on her shoulder which she did not seem to recognise. The only raptors that Chiyo did not fear were the Velociraptors and anything smaller than them. This could not be helping her at all.

"Chiyo they're in their enclosures on a different island," he said in a soft voice. "They cannot get to you."

She nodded but he could still the fear in her eyes. Deciding that actually recapturing some animals might help calm her nerves he started to speak through the headset. Someone mentioned the last Ancylotherium being rounded up while another mentioned that the hadrosaurs on Sorna had just stampeded but had calmed down a short distance from their exhibit. The big cow eyed hadrosaurs were the perfect dinosaurs to distract Chiyo from the feathered hunters. He spoke through his own headset about seeing to the hadrosaurs. It was a bit of a drive but it would be worth it. The road bumped and bounded under the jeep's wheels. Yes having dirt roads made Prehistoric Park seem more naturalistic but it did make driving a pain. In the back he could hear water sloshing back and forth in the tank. The jeep bounded past a tree with branches low to the ground which sent a series of pinkish birds flapping out of the leaves. What were the passenger pigeons doing out of their aviary? To open an aviary you had to do it manually. With thousands of pigeons from official missions, breeding missions and being bred in the park in the Sorna colony alone he did not envy the person to recapture all of them. _Knowing my luck it would be me._

They saw little else when driving to the hadrosaurs. At one point he thought he saw a compie dart into a bush. They lived at the other end of Isla Sorna so he doubted that it could be an actual one. A few of the young flightless birds looked like small theropods. There was a deep rumbling coming from ahead which started to become increasingly high pitched. Another sound like a loud warbler with a deeper throat accompanied it. Standing in the middle of the path were many large hadrosaurs with their large cow like eyes and bristles running along the spine. All three were there. The Edmontosaurus, Hadrosaurus and Maiasaura. Each was as beautiful to look at as the last. The fleshy combs on the males had become a duller colour now that the mating season was over. The lookouts were the ones issuing the wide array of strange noises and were currently standing on their hind legs looking for danger. They probably did not see the jeep as a threat. The rest were browsing on the trees used to decorate the picnic area, except for one young Edmontosaurus who was trying in vain to eat a parasol.

"Any idea of how we're going to move them?" he asked. With each being a minimum of nine metres long they were not the easiest of things to move. The only way to easily move them was by using hadrosaur noises. All hadrosaurs were highly communicative and almost always responded to even the slightest of sounds.

"We don't have any Hadrosaurus, Edmontosaurus or Maiasaura calls," Chiyo explained typing on the screen embedded into the dashboard "but we do have Parasaurolophus. They're not lambeosaurids but it's the only thing we've got."

She pressed the screen and through the radio a low enduring noise similar to someone playing one continuous note on a tuba started to come through the radio. It was the _move on _call. Guard Parasaurolophus sometimes would issue this call to tell the herd _'we've been here too long'_. He winded down the windows and turned the volume up on the radio to the loudest that it could go. They had to cover their ears to avoid being deafened by the low call of the hadrosaur. The herd seemed to be puzzled judging by the look in their cow eyes. Slowly, one by one, they started to move to pastures new.

"They're moving to their exhibit," Chiyo said in relief. It was more of a shout thanks to the volume of the radio. The jeep drove alongside the mass hadrosaur herd. Whenever one of the younger hadrosaurs fell behind a parent would nudge them gently forward with their nose. If anyone tried to argue that dinosaurs were uncaring their belief would instantly be shattered by that. Going along was largely uneventful other than when one particularly large Edmontosaurus knocked against the sign welcoming guests to _Hadrosaur Home_ causing the brick sign to crumble in on itself. One Edmontosaurus reared up and made a call: _awoo-wo-wa-wa-wa_. He his heart stopped was a distress cry…

Shit.

"Jordan," Chiyo whimpered as he turned off the radio that had still been emitting the Parasaurolophus call. Nearby the exhibit there was a decorative pool that sometimes had rare frogs breeding in during the summer. Currently a grey scaled theropod with red feathers on the head and black feathers running across the body was gulping huge mouthfuls of water from the pool. A human could almost fully fit into the jaws, if it bit you half your body would vanish without any issue. Unpleasant images of Ian bursting came back into his head. The Carcharodontosaurus lifted its head (male judging by the red feathers) up from the pool to briefly watch the hadrosaurs run in a bipedal stance into their exhibit before going back to the pool to drink.

"He must not be hungry," Jordan laughed with relief. It was a common misconception that nature was always 'red in tooth and claw'. Predators only went after prey when they were hungry; in the wild animals normally don't eat through boredom. The Carcharodontosaurus had been fed yesterday and Prehistoric Park meal portions meant that they would have no need to hunt for at least two days.

"We best get him back before he does get hungry." He nodded in agreement. Chiyo then did something that he thought only Nigel would have the balls to do. She drove straight towards the dinosaur and parked at its foot. He had escaped two large theropods in just twenty four hours and he did not like the idea of a third joining the other two.

"What the hell are you doing?" he asked.

"Vehicles are only attacked by large carnivores when they're hungry or can smell blood like with Dr Malcolm. Matilda attacked the Wrangler because the kids were screaming. Normally they act curiously around vehicles." It was a good plan. Prehistoric Park tried to reduce contact with the animals as much as possible so most of the animals are naturally curious about vehicles. Curiosity may have killed the cat but it might also capture the Carcharodontosaurus. The dinosaur looked at the jeep and gave a small grunt. It stepped towards the jeep and Chiyo reversed suddenly. He gave a startled growl and took another step forward.

"He's caught your bait!" They started driving quickly with the Carcharodontosaurus chasing behind them. In the mirrors he could see the jaws opening and closing in excitement about chasing the strange metal object. The jeep was faster than the dinosaur (it was already going at 30mph) but the large strides allowed it to keep up easily. He got on his headset and told Control to get ready to open the gate for the Carcharodontosaurus' arrival. The entire jeep rocked as it leant forward and sunk its top jaw into the water tank. Clear water gushed out from where the teeth had left their marks. One giant tooth still remained embedded in the tank.

"How far away are we?" he asked in slight fear. "He's getting a bit overly excited."

Through the vegetation ahead one leg as thick as a tree trunk slammed down on the hard ground. Old Roy the Paraceratherium gave a grumble as the jeep swerved out of the way of the behemoth. He gave an angry roar when the Carcharodontosaurus passed. The smaller dinosaur briefly considered challenging him but decided to continue his pursuit of the jeep. Old Roy snorted in triumph and started browsing from the trees again. The chase continued for a short while longer until they arrived at _Bahariya Formation_. The Paralititan paid no attention to them safely behind the ridge which separated them from the theropod. The gate to the Carcharodontosaurus enclosure opened before them like Moses parting the Red Sea.

"Hold on!" Chiyo cried. She did a handbrake turn and skirted past the dinosaur. He turned to continue the chase until he realised where he was. The Carcharodontosaurus gave a final roar like multiple brass instruments playing the same note simultaneously and walked into his home. The gates closed behind him and locked with a loud clang.

"Thank god," he laughed hugging Chiyo who did not flinch for once. "You're a mad woman."

"_Chiyo Ishado and Jordan Matthews thank you for recapturing the male carch,"_ a voice said over his headset. It was John Arnold. _"as well as recapturing the hadrosaurs. All carchs, hadros, Maiasaura and edmontos are in their exhibits."_

They leant back in their seats laughing in relief. It was a blessed relief. One of the largest carnivores to ever walk the land was back in captivity and one of the largest herds to boot. Chiyo restarted the jeep ready to start the recapture of Old Roy. It was not a difficult task finding him. Mainly because he was currently the largest land mammal but the trail of water which had been left thanks to the punctured water tank helped.

"Come on big fellow!" he yelled sitting on the now empty water tank. The titan looked down at him and gave an odd bemused snort. For some reason out of all the Paraceratherium only Old Roy had a strange fascination with humans. The younger one Indrik liked the vet Suzanne though that was only because she had nursed him back to health. One giant foot slammed on the earth sending shockwaves. Chiyo drove slowly, if they got Old Roy excited he could easily bowl over the jeep. He smiled thinking it would be a funny sight of a Paraceratherium following a jeep as eagerly as a dog following its owner. The long strides of the mammal allowed them to arrive at his exhibit quickly. As Chiyo was on the phone to Control following Old Roy's recapture he sat on the jeep's hood fingering the dislodged Carcharodontosaurus tooth. The point was still sharp. It would be a perfect edition to his fossil collection, except that this tooth was much younger than any other member of his collection.

"Control says things are slowly getting under control." Chiyo explained placing her headset around her neck. "We're lucky that most of the guests left before the storm hit. We only had 2,000 guests. Lex Murphy herself caught the last velociraptor! The Dromaeosaurus have been located and when they wake they'll be moved, only one Liopleurodon escaped but Zhun got him back and Saeed's rounded up the Hipparion. Cronus and Indy are still out there, one Glossotherium and countless others. One of the triceratops has vanished…"

"Don't worry Chiyo. I have a feeling that everything's going to be alright."


	20. Prehistoric Park Website Part 6

**Tickets**

Prehistoric Park offers a wide range of tickets and packages so you can go on a safari with a difference! **Prices do not include travel and on-site attractions. Certain deals will include on-site attraction prices. All tickets must be booked in advance. Last updated 23****rd**** August.**

**Ticket Price per person (Costa Rican citizens only): **_Adult (18-62) - _$33.17 USD

_Senior (63+) - _$28.10 USD

_Teen (13-17) - _$28.10 USD

_Child (5-12) - _$15.10 USD

_Under 5s go free!_

**Ticket Price per person (non-Costa Rican citizens): **_Adult (18-62) _\- $158 USD

_Senior (63+) - _$143 USD

_Teen (12-17) - _$143 USD

_Child (5-12) _\- $143 USD

_Under 5s go free!_

_This does not include accommodation, travel or on-site attractions. If you are from a country of low GDP or from a deprived area this price will be negotiable. If you can provide evidence of being from a low development area Prehistoric Park will gladly reduce our entry prices for you as well accommodation and attraction prices._

**Packages**

_Our packages include accommodation and certain on-site attractions depending on which package that you pick. We only advise booking packages if you are staying for longer than two days. Some prices are negotiable. _

**Standard Package**

The Standard Package is perfect for if you wish to visit the ultimate wildlife sanctuary with friends or if you have a family with older children. This is a favorite among university students! This package costs $174 USD for two people and $240 USD for four people. Lasts for three days although if you wish you can extend the visit to a fourth day for $120 USD per person between the ages of 16 and 62, those outside that age bracket will pay $100 USD per person. This can be negotiable. Includes:

_Three nights in the Nublar Hotel_\- Comes with either two single or a double bed depending on your preference. Each room contains air-conditioning, one singular 20 inch flat-screen TV, Wi-Fi and a balcony. Comes with free breakfast in the hotel.

_One free trip on either the Gyrosphere or Wrangler Tour- _Whether you want to relax and let the safari come to you or if you want to go straight to the safari Prehistoric Park caters for you. Take your pick about how you visit our extinct wildlife.

_Complementary map, guide and cagoule/torch- _Prehistoric Park offers you a free map and guide with the Standard Package so you can read up on key attractions as well as find your way to them. We also supply either a cagoule or a torch depending on your preference which you can keep.

_Half price in all cafes and restaurants- _Whether you have an appetite to rival a T Rex or that of a Compsognathus is doesn't matter. With the Standard Package you can eat anywhere at half the price!

**Family Package**

This is the perfect package for your own pack! For four nights at $189 USD you can take your family all around Prehistoric Park. To be eligible for this package there must be a minimum of one person under the age of 15 and one person over the age of 18. A perfect package for parents with children, teenagers and grandparents. Includes:

_Four nights at either the Safari Lodge or Microraptor Lodge- _Both located on Isla Nublar with rooms sporting Wi-Fi, 20 inch TVs and air conditioning so the choice is up to you. If you prefer a bed choose the Microraptor Lodge or if you prefer hammocks choose the Safari Lodge. The Safari Lodge lets you become one with nature while the Microraptor Lodge is entirely kid oriented with cartoons on the TV, discos every Friday and regular Jurassic Hatchlings activities every day taking place.

_Free ride on the Wrangler Tour- _Take your family on a safari with a difference for free! Our Wrangler Tours allow you to experience prehistory first hand in perfect safety with state of the art binoculars included. All tours are narrated by famous environmentalist David Attenborough who will guide you through prehistory.

_Jurassic Hatchlings Group- _Perfect for families with younger children. If you kids are aged between 4 and 10 they can join the Jurassic Hatchlings, Prehistoric Park's kids group. Our group will take your little hatchlings on safe and educational entertainment to keep your elder children (and you) some respite.

_Create your own stuffed toy or free gift- _For younger kids they can create their very own prehistoric playmate with the Create your Own Stuffed Friend section in Prehistoric Presents. Choose from Parasaurolophus, T Rex, Triceratops, Incisivosaurus, Mammoth or Smilodon to create your friend. Older children can choose one free gift, under $20 USD, from Prehistoric Presents ranging from Neanderthal jewelry to fossil ammonites!

_Ride an extinct horse- _Prehistoric Park contains a small population of the domestic horse the Norfolk Trotter. For kids with a penchant for horses they can ride one of the extinct beauties! The Family Package allows up to five rides on horses (normal packages and tickets normally only allow one).

**Safari Package**

For those who want to go on a safari with a difference in the ultimate wildlife sanctuary! For four days at $140 USD up to five people can experience the real side to Prehistoric Park. Perfect for the more adventurous types or those who want to get in touch with nature. Includes:

_Four nights in the Safari Lodge- _Experience Prehistoric Park as a prehistoric safari in the Safari Lodge. A glass ceiling allows you to look up at night to see the stars (at certain times of the year Mars can even be seen) as you relax in hammocks. All rooms contain air-conditioning and Wi-Fi.

_Free Gyrosphere Tour- _In our highly advanced Gyrospheres you can personally meet Prehistoric Park's exotic wildlife ranging from the giant Ultrasaurus to the inquisitive Parasaurolophus. Unlike other tickets and packages with the Safari Package you can go on all Gyrosphere Tours for free!

_The Park at Night Tour- _Visit the other side of Prehistoric Park at night! Guided by our expert tour guides you can get an enhanced experience of the nocturnal side of the park including a Wrangler Tour that allows you to see our more reclusive animals and even getting up close and personal with our different raptor species such as Troodon, Deinonychus and Utahraptor! May be inappropriate for young children.

_Free boat tours- _Your safari does not end on the land. You can choose whether you can explore the rivers or seas of prehistory with either of our Boat Tours. Glass bottom boats allow you to see our animals up close to fully enhance your stay!

_Keeper Talks- _This is the newest section to the Safari Package. Our keepers, and occasional Head Keepers, can give you exclusive talks about some of our animals. Although you will not be able to pet or feed the animals you can get up close to them without disturbing their habitat. Some animals are not available for the Keeper Talks.

**John Hammond Package**

Originally solely for university students or group tours from universities this package has recently been opened for all people. Focused primarily on education and the processes which allowed Prehistoric Park to come into existence it is a thoroughly interesting and very exclusive tour. Prices are negotiable and when you book you must state which of the following that you wish your package to cover (more than one can be picked but this will increase the cost):

_Paleontology- _This package is for paleontology students or dino-lovers. A very exclusive tour of the Museum is available with this package as well as a one-on-one talk with one of Prehistoric Park's three paleontologists. They can also give you a guided tour of the park and our paleobotanist will teach you about extinct flora in an exclusive lecture in the Green House.

_Physics/Engineering- _For those interested in engineering and physics or for those learning about the subject. Talks from top engineers will take you through the Masrani Innovation Center giving you a good insight about how Prehistoric Park runs. There is even an exclusive talk about the running of the time portals. A tour of the geothermal energy plant and biogas generators is also available. When available mathematician Dr Ian Malcolm can even give a talk.

_Genetics/Biology/Animal Behavior- _Animal lovers and those interested in how life works will love this package. You can have an exclusive tour in the Genetics Lab where our cloning process where we breed the first individuals of several invertebrate species before they are rescued properly from extinction takes place. Talks from leading biologist Dr Laure Sorkin and our behaviorist Owen Grady will give you a good insight on our famous residents.

_History- _A new package that previously was only available to UN and UNESCO figures. Our Deputy Manager and resident Historian Chiyo Ishado will give you talks and even tours of sites left by the Matazama civilization. A thoroughly interesting tour that will guide you through the fall of the Matazamas thanks to civil war and how their ancestors among the Bribri people now actually own the island chain. Talks can even be made available with awa of the Bribri tribe who live on Isla Pena. With this package you can get an exclusive insight into the cultures of the five Neanderthal tribes and the Homo Erectus!

**Romance Package**

With its rolling hills, mist filled mountains and vibrant forests Prehistoric Park is perfect for lovers and honeymooners. For four nights at $780 USD you and your dearest can experience the romantic side of prehistory that will create perfect memories to last a lifetime. Includes:

_Four nights in the amor suite- _Nublar Hotel contains several luxurious suites to enhance your romantic holiday. A king-sized bed with silk sheets and a Jacuzzi bathtub will help you sink into an ideal world.

_Welcome basket- _When you arrive at Prehistoric Park you will get a welcome basket that includes truffles, wine made of Carménère grapes or a rich orange juice instead all locally grown on the islands. We also supply a handcrafted necklace made by members of the Haorunsa Neanderthal tribe which is supposed to give the wearer an everlasting love.

_Prehistoric Picnic- _On your final night at Prehistoric Park our staff will create a picnic basket so you can dine under the stars either among the scenic mountains of Nublar or the sandy beaches of Sorna. It is the perfect way to end your romantic holiday. **Warning at certain times of the year the beach is unavailable due to it being a Leatherback Turtle egg laying site.**

**School bookings**

Universities and colleges must look at the John Hammond Package for their group booking deal. School bookings last for three days and can be up to $975 USD for schools with the age range 6-11 for thirty students and five adults , an additional $110 USD will be required for each student over the thirty bracket and $150 USD for every adult over the five bracket. Bookings for schools with the age range 11-18 last for three days and can be up to $1150 USD for thirty students and five adults; an additional $115 is required for each student over the thirty bracket and $150 for each adult over the five bracket. All these prices are negotiable. This booking is the most negotiable about what it includes:

_Three nights in either the Safari Lodge or Microraptor Lodge- _Multiple rooms are available each containing a TV, Wi-Fi and working bathroom facilties although we personally suggest the Microraptor Lodge for bookings where the students are aged 6-11. The Microraptor Lodge is catered more for younger people and boats numerous cartoons on the TVs.

_Free tour ride- _One free tour is available for the pupils on one of the following: Wrangler Tours, Gyrosphere Tours, Matanceros River Tour or the Ocean Tour. Any one of them will leave your pupils with thrilling memories and will finally remain quiet when in awe of a dinosaur. For safety reasons children under ten have to be supervised by an adult when on either the Wrangler or Gyrosphere tours.

_Kids eat free! - _While your flock of pupils roams Prehistoric Park all of them eat for free. Whether it be café, restaurant or roadside snack van none of your pupils will have to pay a penny for food or drink.

**Arrival**

If you are flying in to Costa Rica you will either arrive at the Juan Santamaría International Airport or the Daniel Oduber International Airport. There one of our buses will escort you to the city of Puntarenas . If you are driving please arrive at the port of Puntarenas half an hour before our yacht arrives. For Costa Rican citizens wishing for a day out at Prehistoric Park you may either get on the boat with international guests or if you did not have time to book in advance we have a second yacht which comes every hour. When you get on our boat with your luggage the captain will inform you on the procedure of arriving at Prehistoric Park as you sail to the islands.

**Rules of Service**

_Before you enter Prehistoric Park there are certain rules that must be respected._

1\. If you a Costa Rican citizen we apologize but you must go through a metal detector before getting on our boat. This is to reduce the possibility of illegal items being taken to Prehistoric Park.

2\. Knives, guns, explosives or any other item that can be used as a weapon are not allowed at Prehistoric Park. Anyone found with such item will be escorted off the islands and onto the mainland.

3\. Abuse towards staff members or other guests will not be tolerated. Anyone found abusing guests or staff will be escorted off of the islands and onto the mainland.

4\. Vandalism of park property will result in a fine. Littering counts as vandalism.

5\. We ask that if a guest wishes to smoke they do so in one of our designated areas. Our animals coming from a different time have delicate lungs so smoke could damage their lungs. E-cigarettes are allowed but we ask them to not be smoked indoors.

6\. Please do not use open flames outside the Perimeter Fence. This is to reduce the risk of a fire.

7\. Please do not feed the animals. They have a very strict diet.

8\. Many of our animals bite and are dangerous. Do not go near them.

9\. Keep your Wrist Band on your person at all times when outside the Perimeter Fence. This is for your own safety. They will turn red in an emergency. When this happens please either go to an Emergency Center or the Perimeter Fence. If you see an animal out of its enclosure do not approach it! Go to the nearest Emergency Center.

10\. Prehistoric Park is located in a hot climate so we ask you to keep yourself hydrated and well protected from the sun.

11\. Parents/guardians/teachers please watch children at all times. The islands are large and can easily be lost in.

12\. Please follow any rules stated by the attractions. This is for your own protection as well as the protection of the animals.

13\. If you see our mascot Python please do not pet him. He is very friendly but can bite if roughly petted. He is dear to Prehistoric Park and do not want him to be stressed.

14\. Do not drink alcohol into excess. This is to respect other guests and for your own safety. Also please do not play music loudly or make loud noises; especially around animals.

15\. Please refrain from using selfie sticks in aviaries, Carboniferous Houses and around exhibits.

16\. We only accept Costa Rican colon so we advise you to convert your currency before you arrive at Prehistoric Park.

17\. Have fun!


	21. Tyrant vs Untameable

Tyrant vs Untameable

Heat started to creep along the back of his neck. The morning sun had finally risen high enough into the sky to actually warm up the volcanic land. Until only a few minutes ago the fiery orb had been hidden behind the thick trees that grew on the south side of Isla Matanceros. A nearby horse snorted. The sound of cantering hooves on the pavement echoed around rest area. He put the jeep into gear once more and drove after the horse. Like modern day horses Hipparion travel in bands of up to thirty five led by one male, all the rest either being female or young males. Something had spooked the largest band of the park's three bands, consisting of thirty individuals, and they had scattered all around. Nineteen had been recaptured.

"That one's breaking off," Chiyo said absentmindedly. They had swapped seats when they had got onto Isla Matanceros. She had been daydreaming ever since she had heard about the Utahraptor attack on Ajay and Muldoon. Not many people liked Ajay and Muldoon; Muldoon for being an alcoholic and misogynist and Ajay for enjoying big game hunting. No one however would want them mauled the way they were though… He shook his head in disgust. Like all dromaeosaurs Utahraptors had a nasty hunting habit; they repeatedly stab their prey in vital organs or the throat until they succumb to their injuries. Muldoon being in a bad state might indicate that they had skipped the stabbing but Ajay…

"He's breaking off again." He snapped back to reality. A young male had started to break off from the rest of the herd and was looking curiously into a pond. Impatiently he pressed the car horn sending a loud honk ricocheting off of the trees. The young Hipparion raised his head, whickered and ran towards his mother. With the windows down he could feel the atmospheric generators at work. Around them humidity was losing a battle to dryness in the air. Tropical trees became less thick and started to be replaced by pines, cypresses and even eucalyptus trees found in Mediterranean climates. A perfect environment for this species of Hipparion. This particular species was Hipparion mediterraneium, Prehistoric Park also exhibited Hipparion dietrichi from Greece who were rescued on a 'secret mission' for Phase II.

The paved road in front of him branched off into two paths: one a continuous paved road towards the center of the island and a second dirt road which veered off into some waist high golden grass. He gave a sigh of relief. The horses followed the dirt path. It would have been a nightmare capturing them all if some chose to head in the opposite direction. Bar the occasional horse stopping to graze from the long grass (who quickly moved with a blare of the horn) sending them to the _Hipparion Grassland _gate was no challenge. One elderly horse who the others were following galloped through the gate. Quickly all the others followed suit. He placed his finger against the side of his headset to connect it to Control. After a brief few seconds of static the line cleared indicating someone had answered his call.

"Hello this is Jordan Matthews, staff number 0495. Me and Chiyo Ishado have recaptured the last of the Hipparion. Ready to close and lock the gate."

"Roger that Jordan." It was the voice of Vivian from Control. "We've picked up something in the exhibit that is not a Hipparion. We can't tell what it is. Seems to be about one and a half meters long. Could you give it a look?"

He looked towards Chiyo who gave a small smile. "Might as well. We can kill two birds with one stone."

He confirmed Vivian's request and drove into the exhibit. Behind them he heard the gates closing. God damn them if this turns out to be an Albertosaurus. At just one and a half meters he doubted that it would actually be T Rex's smaller cousin but these thoughts are sometimes always at the back of your mind. _Hipparion Grassland _was a green sea sporting the occasional iceberg of a tree. The multitude of horses galloped or grazed all day long among the fronds of their sea. Whatever the intruder was it sure had a lot of land to hide in. Chiyo was talking to someone over her headset.

"It should be near the west trees." He nodded and drove the car west. A few Hipparion noticed the jeep drive towards them and they trotted out of the way. At the west side of the exhibit there was a small forest that the horses liked to use for shelter. It proved to be a very good spot to see them from the River Tour. Grass was soon replaced by pine trees. The gentle rush of the river accompanied the chirrup of crickets. Deciding to be brave he even got out and sat on the hood of the jeep to get a better look (or even hear) the mystery animal.

"What the hell are you doing?" Chiyo asked frantically, torn between staying inside the jeep for safety or getting out to chastise his recklessness. She ended up getting out, her face as red as her hair. "It could be a carnivore."

"Chiyo the dangerous carnivores have been rounded up. I don't think the Herrerasaurus got out but anyway all of them are longer than one and a half meters. It's probably an Scutellosaurus or maybe even a Mesohippus."

That seemed to calm Chiyo up slightly. She stopped hunching up her shoulders and even started to lie back on the jeep. He could understand her unease though. She had personally rescued, alongside Nigel, about every animal in the park. She understood them. After seeing them in the wild she respected what they could do. Sometimes he even had to remind himself that almost every one of the park's animals had once been wild. He had personally seen that multiple times and everyone had stories about how Prehistoric Park's animals were still truly wild. Winston liked to brag about being chased by the Entelodon and Hyaenodon gigas on the same day when Nigel had them moved to Isla Matanceros so they could have larger exhibits (although everyone said that the 'chase' was an exaggeration).

"What was that?" Chiyo asked suddenly sitting up alert. He heard it too. It sounded like a chirruping of a bird. Where had he heard that sound before? There was another sound of scattering foliage coming from behind the jeep. When he went round to look at the back the chirruping sound came again from the right side of the jeep. He went round to the front to hopefully catch the owner of the voice off guard. Like Control said it was one and a half metres long. From head to toe it was covered in dark blue feathers with black spots except unlike birds and raptors the feathers looked needle like. This was a very old dinosaur in regards to evolutionary history. A V-shaped bright orange crest with dapples of crimson in it stretched from the nose to the crown of the skull. Whenever it made the chirruping noise a yellow throat pouch similar to that of a crocodile inflated slightly.

"I would pet him if he wouldn't bite off my fingers otherwise!" Jordan laughed. It was a young male Dilophosaurus, probably only two years old by its size. You could easily tell it was a male by the brightly coloured crest; female Dilophosaurus normally had a duller crest. The dinosaur made another chirruping sound which turned into something like a choking noise. It started to wave its head left and right while puffing out the yellow pouch and arching its back up and down. A typical Dilophosaur territory display. On an adult it would seem threatening but on this juvenile it seemed comical.

"You really do give Nigel a run for his money sometimes." Chiyo said quietly. Possibly trying not to disturb the dinosaur before them. "Control this is Chiyo again. The animal in _Hipparion Grassland _is a young male dilo. We'll find a way to get him back."

The Hipparion probably smelt the little dinosaur and ran off scared. Alien smells always scare horses, especially that of predators. An adult dilo may be able to kill a Hipparion but not one as young as this one. His jaws were even weaker than an adult and his forearms were nowhere near as muscular as an adult. Instead of fish and adult dinosaurs his diet would consist of fish, lizards, eggs and hatchlings. How on earth were they going to get this little guy back to his exhibit? All the time as he and Chiyo thought of a plan the young dilo kept on cocking its head quizzically at them. Although, by its age, born at the park it probably was not used to humans. He picked up a nearby stick and started to shake it in the direction of the dinosaur. Other than an initial startled jump back it did nothing.

"Wait I have an idea!" It was a similar concept to how they recaptured the hadrosaurs. Dilos as young as this one were terrified of any adults that weren't their parents. If the jeep had the territorial call of an adult dilo hopefully they could scare it away and towards its exhibit. Considering that it didn't have any noise for a Hadrosaurus, Edmontosaurus or a Maiasaura it would be a long shot. He quickly told Chiyo his plan.

"It doesn't have a territorial roar." He felt disappointment build up throughout his entire body. Getting this guy home would be much harder. "It does have a greeting call though. The dilos were meant to be our big Phase II animal originally so we recorded some of their greeting calls for the River Tour to play in case they couldn't see any."

A smile crept up on his face. Out of all the Phase II animals (those from the Permian Plains, Scutellosaurus, Sarahsaurus, Prosalirus, the second Hipparion species and the dilos) he was thankful that Prehistoric Park had decided to make the Dilophosaurus the star animal. A part of him thanked god too that the I Rex was discovered after Phase II had started; if not they would have otherwise been the star and he would have no easy plan to recapture the little dilo. Careful not to disturb him they both climbed into the jeep. Still the dinosaur continuously cocked his head back and forth. He started typing the LED screen on the dashboard. From _Animal Noises _it was only a simple task of finding Dilophosaurus. Instantly he pressed the _Dilophosaurus-Greeting _button. Through the radio a loud crackling call like a whooper swan but deeper in pitch echoed around them. The dilo started bobbing his head up and down making similar noises. Suddenly he jumped onto the jeep's hood and started shaking his head. He climbed onto the roof, still making the same noises, leaving one muddy three toed footprint behind. He could hear the little dinosaur moving on the metal of the roof.

"He should be safe if you don't drive too quickly," Chiyo said trying to lean out to see the dinosaur now standing on the roof. He started to drive at about 10mph. He could hear the dilo wobble on the jeeps' roof but it seemed to regain his posture. A few Hipparion in their way made startled whinnying noises and galloped off in the opposite direction. In response the Dilophosaurus made a sinister snarl. The transporting of the dinosaur soon became easier when they exited the Hipparion exhibit and got onto the paved road. Without the bumps he could afford to go a bit faster without the danger of knocking the dilo off of the roof.

"We'll have to make a detour," Chiyo said through as she rested her hand on her headset. "A few Scutosaurus are blocking the path out of Permian Plains. I think the quickest way to get to _Kayenta Formation _is to take the service road on this next left."

Service roads were always dirt roads so that meant slowing down again. Their passenger on the roof started to snap at the birds which darted from the bush as they drove past. Even though he was driving slowly he constantly fretted that the dilo would jump off and get lost somewhere where the park staff could not get him. He could feel the air becoming more humid and richer in oxygen. Mediterranean plants were substituted for ferns, horsetails and ginkgos. A sign soon appeared at a fork in the road. Written in English, Spanish, Mandarin and Russian one of the prongs said: _Kayenta Formation_. He gently turned to go in that direction. Quickly the dirt road became tarmacked and the grey obelisk showing a skeletal skull of a Dilophosaurus came into view. They descended down another dirt path to get to the gate. Three keepers were there: two had opened the gate while a third was waving a fish around. The dilo became instantly smitten with the fish wielder and jumped off of the jeep, leaving another three toed muddy footprint on the windshield as he left. The keeper threw the fish into the exhibit with the dinosaur following.

"Control this is Jordan Matthews. We have returned the Dilophosaurus back home."

It took half a minute for Vivian to reply. "Good that's the last of them. The situation is now more stable on Isla Matanceros. We need you back on Isla Nublar…Wait there's something in the dilo paddock. It's not moving. Could you give it a look?"

Chiyo rolled her eyes and leant out of the window to ask the keepers to open the gates for them. The feeling of déjà vu was uncanny. Probably a sleeping Hipparion was in there. He put the jeep into gear and drove into the paddock. Knee high ferns scattered the entirety of the ground as the wheels rolled over them. Peering out from one of the trees was a black crest with orange flecks. Each Dilophosaur had a unique pattern on their crest; no two dilos had the same pattern. With the height of the crest in relation to the ground that was probably an adult. At two meters tall it was definitely a dinosaur you didn't want to stumble across at night. They drove on a bit further to see what Control had picked up.

"What the hell is a jeep doing in here?" he asked. One of the pickup jeeps was parked on top of a small muddy hill. Crashed probably was the better word. A tree normally grew on the hill but now the jeep had smashed into it uprooting it. Mud now entombed most of the tree. The front of the jeep had been completely destroyed, the hood had imploded on itself and he could see black oil smeared among the mud from where the engine had ruptured.

"That's the jeep that the mercenary Gabriel used when he kidnapped Dennis," Chiyo commented. "He must have taken it from Nublar, used the tunnels to get to Matanceros and got lost. The River Tour starts and ends nearby so they probably took a wrong turn."

"A wrong turn into a dinosaur enclosure." How did that Gabriel survive years in Nicaragua if he got lost in a park designed for people no to get lost in?

"I don't think he got lost now that I think about it," Chiyo said. "His plan was to get a boat from the River Tour. With the power back on he probably knew that people would be out looking for him. He might have gone this way to stick to the river and stay out of sight. The low visibility had this result…"

She waved her hand towards the upturned tree and destroyed jeep. He got back to Control to tell them that they had found Gabriel's jeep. The plan had changed now. Security was going to come and they would escort the newcomers through the exhibit while they looked for the mercenary's whereabouts. After half an hour had passed a team of three arrived in a jeep bearing the signature Prehistoric Park logo. He only knew one of the three team members: Nima Cruz. She stepped out of the jeep and walked towards them as if they were in a car park and not the exhibit of the early Jurassic's top predator.

"Hi Chiyo," she said. "You got a way to scare off the dilos when we search for clues?"

"Yeah," Chiyo replied lifting up a klaxon. "Animals hate loud noises."

He got out of the jeep with his own klaxon in hand. He felt much safer with a klaxon in hand than he would with a tranquiliser rifle. Tranquilising an animal is not instantaneous, unless if you wanted to permanently put it to sleep, but any medium sized animal would run scared of the unrelenting noise of a klaxon. A juvenile dilo stood on a nearby rock cocking its head at them. The striped yellow crest indicated that it was a different one from before.

"Footprints. To different sets, one clearly a set of hiking boots, the other by the deepness of the heel was for office wear." Nima was crouched by the side of the jeep. Her nose was virtually touching the glutinous mud. He had a feeling that Nedry wasn't expecting hiking through a forest that morning. She stood up and went to the hill. "They went down here."

She started walking down the hill with the two other members of her team. Chiyo nimbly jumped down the hill as easily as a mountain goat would go down a mountain trail. When he tried he got his foot trapped in some mud, tumbled and would have got a face full of it if Chiyo didn't catch him. There was a low groan and a hiss to their left. A fully grown Dilophosaurs started to come from the bush, looking extremely threatening with its dark red crests. He quickly fired his klaxon causing the dilo to give a shriek and run off in the opposite direction.

"They continued closer to the river," Nima continued bending down to look at the footprints. He could hear the river running softly just ahead of them behind some trees. "Something was following them. Three toed footprints. An adult by the size of the tracks. It started to get up close to the one wearing hiking boots. They human footprints stop and turn around. They've noticed the dilo. Here some mud is smeared. It looks like Nedry pushed the other man who fell in the mud. A few of these footprints here are quite deep. It looks like Nedry started jumping…"

"He was getting the dinosaur's attention," Chiyo said suddenly. "Damn…He was trying to save Gabriel." He could feel only pity for Dennis. Twice blackmailed and then tried to offer himself as bait to save the man who had threatened to open up his throat. Regardless of it being either a desperate attempt at redemption or genuinely trying to help Gabriel he felt nothing but pity for Dennis. He hoped that he was okay.

"There's some blood. With the mud I can't tell how much. He stumbled towards this clearing and…_mierda_."

Through some ferns he could see the pasty white body with smears of dark red. He couldn't bear to look at it. Chiyo's face was the same eerie white but gave away nothing what she was thinking. Ever the stoic. He felt as if part of him had died. Nedry had gone from villain to martyr in his eyes. In disgust Nima stood up and started to follow the other footprints.

"The mercenary started to run in this other direction. Another set of three toed footprints came from over here. The mercenary stopped then continued running to those trees over here." She pointed to some trees with long tangled roots close to the river. "He ran and caught his foot on the root. _Mierda_."

He couldn't look this time. Nima was muttering something in Spanish to someone over her headset. Chiyo was looking blankly at the dead mercenary. Was she angry at him or was she upset about his death? Nima, looking quite pale, humbly walked up to them.

"Someone's going to come to take the bodies," Nima explained. "Control said that if you want to call it a day you can do."

"No." Everyone was surprised about Chiyo's harsh tone. "We were wanted on Isla Nublar?"

"Cronus is asleep near _Tyrannosaurus Territory_. They wanted you to help move when we he wakes up."

Chiyo nodded and started back towards the jeep. With some form of wrathful elegance she climbed back up the hill. Rather more clumsily he followed her. She drove them out of the enclosure with Nima's team following behind them. An icy coldness had filled the jeep. No one spoke. Chiyo's face had hardened, her true thoughts hidden by a cold veneer. It was only when they were half way to Nublar in the tunnels did he pluck up the courage to talk to her.

"Chiyo are you okay?" He knew she would give an answer of _'I'm okay' _like she normally did when asked this question. He didn't expect her to suddenly stop the jeep sending him rocking forward into his seatbelt. Her eyes turned red and she started to cry. He was shocked. Chiyo was never one for crying.

"It's all my fault!" she spluttered through her tears. "If I had been a better friend to Dennis and actually saw that he was okay he would never have gone to BioSyn. He would never have died. Those two guests would never have died, Ajay would never have died, that waitress would never have died, those mercenaries would never have died, Dr Malcolm would never have got injured and Muldoon would never have gotten mauled by those fucking raptors!"

She slammed her head onto the steering wheel. He hugged her despite her flinching when he did so. Maria had told him that with Chiyo having so low self-esteem whenever something bad happened she would blame herself. With so much shit going through her head it was her natural response to anything bad that happened.

"Chiyo there is only one person to blame for all this. Lewis Dodgson is to blame for this. Remember Dennis tried to back out? Because of Dodgson Dennis could not tell anyone." He could feel her shaking under his arms. Eventually the shaking became less violent and she managed to sit up. Judging by her eyes he knew that she didn't believe him; changing the way you think is much harder than healing from a cut or a bruise.

"We best be going to get Cronus," she replied solemnly. She gave a small smile which reassured him. Sending half a dozen rats scattering she drove the jeep forward. Soon they had emerged into the tropical humidity of _Hell's Creek_. He could hear the rumble of a Triceratops nearby from their exhibit. It did not take long however to find Cronus. Incidentally he was now sleeping where Dr Malcolm had been found injured. Pieces of straw from the destroyed toilet roof swept back and forth with every breath Cronus took. Faintly he could see the giant's head twitching as he slept. Nigel was standing nearby and winced as he walked up to them.

"Had a few broken ribs thanks to an Iguanodon," he said with a smile despite his physical pain. "When Cronus wakes we'll just have to find Indy."

Suddenly Cronus opened his eye. He pulled Nigel and Chiyo back under some low tree branches, safely out the reach of Cronus if he wanted a wake-up snack. The tyrannosaur started to sniff the air and rumbled. His giant crocodile like throat pouch quivered and inflated in a hiss just as crocodiles do. He gave another low hiss. That was a territorial hiss. Who was he hissing at? What he forgot was the incredible sense of smell that tyrannosaurs had. He knew something was there…invisible.

"Indy!" Nigel cried. A green background changed to a white one. Indy arched her back and hissed like some sort of biblical serpent. They were challenging each other for territory. Quickly the hisses turned to roars. Cronus's earthshattering bellow and Indy's warbled snarl. Tyrant vs Untameable. Indy made the first strike. She went to bite Cronus's abdomen and only managed to claw it with her right hand. Cronus went to bite the left but missed. At that moment Indy managed to grab Cronus by the scruff of his neck with her other hand. Cronus gave a feeble hiss and tried to body slam into Indy. This failed and she bit him on his lower flank sending a cascade of red fluid pouring out of a sizeable hole now in his body. Grey feathers greedily drank the red. She bit him again on his upper back sending more blood to soak his feathers. Possibly gallons of red blood dripped onto the mud. It was murder. Indy took a third bite out of Cronus, this time near his throat, and then headbutted him. Cronus went down shaking the earth like an earthquake. His breathing became ragged. He could hear the other tyrannosaurs roaring from their exhibit.

"We need more teeth!" Nigel said in dismay.

That's it. Indy had intelligence and manoeuvrability on her side but if there were multiple tyrannosaurs… "Control this is Jordan Matthews. No time to explain but you must urgently open the gate to _Tyrannosaurus Territory_! Quickly!"

The gate behind them slid open. The earth shook underneath them. As Indy was going to sink her teeth into Cronus's neck a large grey shape slammed into her. Speckles of red dropped down from Indy's side from where the shape had bitten her. The shape was Terrance. He gave a roar as Indy turned round and sunk her teeth into the base of his neck. It would have been the end of him if Jane hadn't arrived and tore a chunk out of Indy's flank. There was a sickening crunch as Matilda joined the fray by grasping one of Indy's arms in her maw of a mouth. Indy swiped at Matilda with her free arm sending droplets of blood pouring from her face. Matilda let go at that moment.

"Oh my god!" he heard Chiyo yell over the roar of the dinosaurs. Indy went to round on Matilda in retaliation until Cronus re-joined the clash of the titans by ramming into Indy's stomach. The larger white dinosaur turned around giving a huge hiss like a crocodile. All four tyrannosaurs surrounded her; one on each side. Each tyrannosaur gave a hiss of their own in response. Indy went and slammed into Terrance, a crack followed and Terrance started to limp off. It all happened at once. Cronus grabbed one arm, Matilda Indy's neck and Jane Indy's leg. A fountain of blood issued from each bite mark. Indy gave a feeble cry. The tyrannosaurs let go and limping Indy started to retreat; hunched shouldered and leaving a trail of blood behind her. Despite his limp Cronus managed to stand up tall and gave a bellow of victory. All four tyrannosaurs returned to their rightful territory with the gate closing behind them.

"Well that was unexpected," Nigel laughed. He found himself laughing as well.

_A week later_

He sat at one of the desks with Maria's hand in his own. It had been a stressful week. The vets were working overtime to ensure that the four T Rex and Indy could be healed as quickly as possible. A part of the vets were still in tatters after a hungry cave bear had smashed through some glass to eat an unfortunate clutch of Caudipteryx chicks. A dodo suffering from bumblefoot unfortunately met its end also thanks to the escapee injured Dromaeosaurus. Quite a few animals were still not accounted for. Over fifty passenger pigeons had escaped their aviary thanks to a Megalosaurus, a Leedsichthys was still circling Isla Pena, three Gallimimus were now roaming free on Sorna and there was an angry woolly rhino on Nublar that no one wanted to go near. InGen at least had been spared lawsuits thanks to the WikiLeaks article. Lewis Dodgson had been forced to resign and there were talks of him being extradited to Costa Rica for second degree murder, corporate espionage and the hiring of mercenaries to be used in Costa Rican territory. With ten dead and twelve injured it could have been much worse.

"Morning all!" Bob said as he shuffled into the room nursing an arm in a sling. Despite calls from Dr Paulson to rest he decided to continue working. "Okay guys Winston you're on feeding duty, Mary and Saeed you're helping with the vets, Conor and Zhun you have the task of picking up the last of the aquatic creatures. Finally Jordan and Maria, there's an angry rhino who's begging to meet you." He said this with a smile.

Jordan smiled too. Just another day at Prehistoric Park.


	22. Prehistoric Park Website Part 7

** News and Announcements**

_New Beasts of Africa._

-08/30/2016

As a part of phase three Prehistoric Park now has rescued many new species of animals from Miocene Ethiopia. Isla Muerta now boasts the Beasts of Africa which exhibits a staggering eleven new species! These include a troop of the baboon Dinopithecus, a baboon the size of a fully grown human, the staggering eight metre long Thorbjarnarson's crocodile and the giant hippopotamus gorgops. The ancestors of the woolly mammoth Mammuthus subplaniforms and Mammuthus africanavus are now proud members of Prehistoric Park. Two close cousins to our ancestor, the Australopithecus, the Ardipithecus and Paranthropus have now also been rescued. They are currently not available for public viewing for now.

We also wish to announce the arrival of some recently extinct animals. Peace Park on Isla Nublar happily now exhibits the Ratas Island lizard from Minorca and the lava mouse from the Canary Islands, both of whom went extinct through human encroachment. The Peace Park Insectarium also now exhibits the Perrin's cave beetle and beautiful Xerces blue butterfly. Finally in the Aquarium from England we have the Ivell's sea anemone and the whitefish Houting are now proudly exhibited. All will be available for public viewing soon.

_Announcing Phase Three_

-08/23/2016

Phase Three for Prehistoric Park officially begins now. We have been working hard to tirelessly rescue more animals from extinction. We now exhibit dozens of more animals who are now available for public viewing. Among our new arrivals include the _San Antonio Walkway _exhibiting dinosaurs from early Cretaceous Texas such as the humped hunter Acrocanthosaurus, the colossus sauropod Sauroposeidon and the raptor Deinonychus. There's Majunga Basin where you can see the strange ecosystem of Cretaceous Madagascar like the cannibalistic Majungasaurus, the devil frog Beezlebufo and the tiny mammal Vintana. We also have extensions to the Yixian Formation which now exhibits the Incisivosaurus, the iguanodontid Bolong and the tiny troodontid Mei as well as having an extension to Holocene Heights featuring a larger Atlas elephant herd, a pride of Atlas lions and a herd of Bubal hartebeest. The new Korean Coast is a must as well featuring a semi-aquatic ceratopsian Koreaceratops and a newly discovered mosasaur! These are just a few examples and future expansions to Prehistoric Park will come soon.

_A double Presidential visit._

-08/10/2016

This week President Barack Obama has taken a diplomatic visit to Costa Rica to meet with President Luis Guillermo Solís. As a treat both Presidents have taken their families to Prehistoric Park. Presidents Solís and Obama happily became Prehistoric Park members. On our website you can see the photos from their visit including Malia and Sasha Obama getting an up close meeting with Gantulga the Therizinosaurus on their Gyrosphere tour. All were pleased to meet our newest tyrannosaur Sahara.

President Solís gave a speech during his visit: "Prehistoric Park reminds us all how fragile nature is. It reminds us that we must protect nature as nature cannot always protect itself. More importantly it reminds us that nature is truly the most powerful force on the planet. There's nothing quite a humbling as getting close up to a fully grown Brachiosaurus."

_Welcoming Sahara._

-08/05/2016

_Tyrannosaurus Territory _has a very special visitor. Two of our tyrannosaurs, Cronus and Jane, are the proud parents of a little female hatchling! Sahara hatched from her egg in the early hours of Sunday morning and we are glad that our tyrannosaur family has a brand new member.

_Petting Zoo_

-06/23/2016

Prehistoric Park has rescued several species of extinct domesticated animals from extinction and now can be seen at the Prehistoric Park Petting Zoo. Among these include the Norfolk trotter, Oregon rex and Toy bulldog these newly rescued animals will soon be available for public viewing. Due to their domesticated nature it is likely that they will see a bright future outside Prehistoric Park sometime soon.

_Memorial Service_

-01/20/2016

A memorial service will be held in the Rest Area on Isla Nublar for Lindsey Carter, Logan Hunt, Ajay Sidhu and Sanka Sindh who tragically lost their loves last month. The service will start at 14:00 exactly. All are welcomed to pay their respects.

**Support Us**

_Prehistoric Park is reliant on public support. There are multiple ways in which you could help us, many of which will help you as well! Any way you help us will either be put into the upkeep of the park or the funding of conservation projects worldwide._

**Donations**

If you wish to donate to help our work you can donate in a multitude of ways. You can send a donation online or through the post. You can donate as much or as little as you want. At the park itself we have multiple donation stands where you can donate if you wish.

**Become a member**

For an annual membership of $90 USD, (reduced prices are available for seniors, students and children), you can be a Prehistoric Park Member. Being a member earns you reduced entry to the park each time that you go-by the fourth entry it is virtually free! Prehistoric Park members gain a free monthly newsletter describing what is happening in the park, discounts in Prehistoric Presents and a fastpass for all tours. When you become a member you can donate some money if you wish although there is no obligation to. Here is the amount that you can donate:

_$5 USD_\- Helps fund our Golden lion tarmarin conservation program.

_$10 USD- _Feeds the Psittacosaurus for a week.

_$15 USD- _Keeps the Alaskan Troodon cool for a week.

_$20 USD- _Keeps _Ice Age Plains_ cold for two days.

**Adopt an Animal**

This can be an ideal gift for a family member or if you simply wish to treat yourself. You can adopt any one of our many animals, the full list can be found here, and your annual adoption will fund the care of your animal. You can choose out of one of these packs:

_Trilobite- $60 USD- _Comes with a certificate and a fact sheet, monthly photos of your adopted animal, a free copy of _Prehistoric Park: Extinction doesn't have to be forever_ and complementary keychains, stickers and bookmark.

_Dodo- $120 USD- _Comes with everything found in the Trilobite pack. Also contains two complimentary tickets, your name at the animal's enclosure and a free subscription to our magazine.

_Mammoth- $265 USD- _Comes with everything found in the Dodo pack. Also contains a membership to Prehistoric Park, (including all its perks), reduced cost on the Wrangler tour and a Prehistoric Park calendar.

_Tyrannosaurus- $760 USD- _Comes with everything found in the Mammoth pack. Also contains an additional year's membership and a guided tour for two people (if you are a family of more than two any children aged 16 or under are included in the guided tour) lasting for four days.

**Enrichment Donation**

All our animals require enrichment. Great auks love shiny objects and we have found that using DVDs and CDs hanging from strings provides hours of entertainment for them. Pet toys are always needed for the kuri and the Darwinius just love old boxes. Even tyrannosaurs like old barrels, we fill barrels with meat which all our tyrannosaur species love to tear apart. If you wish to donate something please follow this link.

_I apologise for last week, I accidentally caused some confusion and I should have been clearer. I have yet to move to my university, I move on the 12th. Next Sunday there will not be a chapter but sometime in the week there will be a special so I hope to see you there. Special shout out to Nathanoraptor who will sometime soon be writing his own Prehistoric Park fanfiction set in the Extinction World/Back from the Ashes universe; he was the one who influenced the Dilophosaurus behaviour seen last chapter so this is also a thanks to him. _


	23. Special-Welcome to Prehistoric Park

_This will be the last chapter of A Keeper's Story. As a result I've decided to basically give a broader reaction to Prehistoric Park opening to the public. The first part however is set a month after Jordan is hired at the park._

Special- Welcome to Prehistoric Park

_Lewis Dodgson_

Once again it was a glorious Californian day. Temperatures high into the fifties, not a cloud obscuring the blue sky and the sun sparkled off of the glass windows of the city. From the twentieth floor of BioSyn's headquarters he could faintly make out the construction site of the Apple Campus 2. Normally he loved the city of Cupertino but recently it had begun to sour for him. For years it was the forefront of western technology: BioSyn and Apple. Soon he would even be taking over half of that forefront when Steingarten retires in the upcoming months. Now it just seemed to be mocking him. What point was it to take over one of the most advanced companies just when your opponent was leaving you in the dust? It was like becoming President just when the Soviets had put a man in space. He did not even notice when the rest of the board came in and took their places.

"Lewis if you will," a voice behind him croaked. At seventy years of age the pace of being CEO was taking its toll on Bill Steingarten. A smile crept along his face at the fact that Bill had to ask him politely to sit down rather than tell him. They all knew who really called the shots at BioSyn. He sat down regardless, not to appease the old man but rather the rest of the board. Members, especially Jeff Rossiter, would love to see him ousted. Many saw him as a little upstart researcher on too high a pedestal. If he heard _Chile _mentioned one more time near him! In a few moments he would have them eating out of the palm of his hand.

"I am not going to beat around the bush here," he said pressing a button on a remote. The blinds drew themselves, a screen came down and the projector started shooting images onto the screen. It showed a clear map of _Los Cincos Muertes y Nublar_. "When John Hammond opened his glorified zoo and those islands BioSyn stock became worthless. InGen stock meanwhile rose exponentially. People became enamoured with Hammond, he went from an obscure CEO to a household name, and he made a fortune virtually overnight. People chose to buy InGen products, research from extinct animals has allowed InGen to release revolutionary products, countless machines were produced by InGen to produce food and not to mention revenue made from his zoo itself."

"Lewis we know all this," Bill said impatiently, just as all old CEOs are. He needed all that to get his point across. He noticed Francine Wexley shuffling in her seat. Bill laughed at this. "Francine we won't fire you for taking your son to Prehistoric Park. If Universal fired their employees for watching a Disney film they would have no one working there. Hell, every kid wants to see a real dinosaur. There's no animosity between me and Hammond so even I'm planning to go. Heh heh."

Lewis smiled. This could work to his advantage. "Bill what if I told you that BioSyn could have its own Prehistoric Park?" He saw Steingarten sit up at this, even Rossiter seemed somewhat eager. "I have a contact high up in Prehistoric Park who will not only help us catch up with years of research but also help us build our own zoo."

He clicked the remote again and the slide behind him changed. It showed a photo of that fat slob Dennis Nedry. He could never abide people like him. "This man is one of the chief computer technicians at Prehistoric Park. He has created the entire computer system at Hammond's zoo. As it happens he is underpaid and very angry at InGen. He is willing to shut down one or two systems to allow some of our employees to take the embryos of extinct animals."

"Lewis there is a massive flaw in your plan," Rossiter said laughing. He probably thought he could take him down, turn the board against him like another Chile. There was no way that the board will discard his plan with how fool proof it was. "Despite recent technological advances we still are years away from cloning extinct animals from amber and bones. The time portal is the only way we know how to get extinct animals. We can't afford to research our own portal and even then the UN monitors time portal usage. InGen will soon realise where we got our animals from and to be honest I do not like the look of the following lawsuit!"

Rossiter had a smug grin on his face. It is not checkmate yet Jeff. "Jeff I have been formulating this plan since I sent our agent originally to the islands. I have changed parts of the plan without Nedry's knowledge, likely he would blab to that Japanese-British girl that Hammond has working for him if he knew. The park's power and gates to the animal cages can be controlled from the control room. We shall have this done and our agents will also 'acquire' a time portal. With all the animals running around it can easily be assumed that the embryos and portal were misplaced. Meanwhile we shall clone our own animals, if the world asks we show them our own time portal and if the UN asks, well, we cloned the animals."

"Dodgson you do realise that people could die with this plan?" Jeff asked worriedly. As if he hadn't thought about that!

"Of course any deaths would be regrettable. But you forget to remember how Prehistoric Park has many measures put in place to make sure no one is killed if something escapes. Anyway the plan is to turn off the power at night so that way virtually everybody will be indoors." He didn't want anyone to be killed; he would have to be a sadist to want that to happen. "Tell me Francine was your son disappointed by anything in Prehistoric Park?"

"A few things," she replied sheepishly. "He thought it was funny that all the dinosaurs had some sort of feathers or something, the Dimetro-sail thing being fish eaters and having a hump instead of a sail, the Dilophosaurus not being venomous or having a frill, the raptors not being super intelligent and the Australopithecus being as smart as a chimp and not smarter because it was our ancestor."

He smiled. This would be the deal breaker. "With the InGen breakout their name would be dragged through the mud. We can easily accuse them of having cloned animals, well with Dr Wu's reputation it would be an easy and justifiable accusation, while we say that we have the real deal. However we shall have animals genetically engineered to be what the public expects. Scaly dinosaurs, intelligent raptors maybe even pet dinosaurs with those Compsognathus and Yi. People believe what they want to believe. They will happily ignore a palaeontologist who argues that we have inaccurate animals. There is surprisingly little evidence to support the theory that there were two gunmen who shot JFK; people heard the theory and ignored the overwhelming evidence against it. Our time portal will be our two person theory."

He pressed the remote again to show the slide saying which animals will be cloned from InGen's embryos. If they acquired every embryo it would be too obvious so a careful list was drafted to determine the best animals to clone for BioSyn's park: mammoths, T Rex, Triceratops, Australopithecus, Pteranodon, Dimetrodon, Brachiosaurus and the like. There were smiles all around the board members. Even Rossiter was congratulating him. InGen's days were numbered.

_Charlotte _

She leant her head back to get more of the sun's rays onto her pale skin. One thing about living in Scotland was the lack of sunlight; to be honest you could say that about all the Great Britain bar Cornwall. The plastic chair underneath her squeaked. When Chiyo told her that her boss had 'spared no expense' making his wildlife sanctuary buying chairs that didn't copy the sound of mice every time you moved must have been conveniently ignored. On her right a man with a large walrus moustache coughed into a handkerchief. She pulled a face. Really must people do that in public? She had to count herself lucky though, even if 'lucky' meant sitting next to a phlegm production facility, because she was the only guest to be at the wildlife sanctuary's unveiling. Only journalists were meant to be here today. Not even world leaders were here today!

"_Que hora es_?" the person on her left asked a brunette woman. What little she had remembered from Spanish Standard Grade had been forced out of her memory after three years of university life. What time was this announcement supposed to start? Impatiently she rubbed her arms, covered in goose bumps, for warmth. Apparently environmental generators covered all the islands so the animals could better acclimatise themselves. This was still though a bit extreme for a few polar bears. There was something strange about the islands. Maybe it was the rolling fog coming from the mountains or the giant volcanic wall surrounding all six of the islands. It had something alien about it, almost prehistoric. She had arrived by boat yesterday and had half expected a T Rex to burst from the trees when she went to hug Chiyo. A rumble like an elephant came from behind the large curtains in front of them. Who knew that polar bears made elephant sounds? Suddenly the crowd went silent. She smiled as she saw Chiyo nervously stand next to Nigel Marven in pure terror, like a deer caught in headlights. Never one for meeting the public. Her boss slowly started to ascend the podium, (John Hammer, no Hammond), and stood erect to give a speech. One gust of wind probably would have swept him off his feet.

"Can everyone hear me?" He said through the microphone. "Good, good. I've spared no expense on today. We even managed to get translations for those in the non-English speaking areas. I digress though. In the late 1940s I had a dream which my good friends Albert Einstein and Robert Oppenheimer made possible with their time portal. All of what you see here today without them and of course my dear friend Nigel here. There is something missing from our world. The amazing animals that time has left behind. But what if we could bring them back? What if extinction didn't have to be forever?" _What the fuck is he talking about?_ "We went back in time on a safari with a difference, when wild life adventurer Nigel Marven plunged into prehistory to rescue creatures on the brink of extinction. His plan was to bring them back to the safety of the present and give them a second chance. Welcome to the ultimate wildlife sanctuary. Welcome to Prehistoric Park!"

He curtains parted. There was a large grassland like what you would see in rural Ukraine. Except the animals in front of her more closely resembled fauna found in the Serengeti than Ukraine. An elephant roared with his trunk outstretched. An elephant covered in brown, shaggy fur. It was a woolly mammoth!

"Fuck me!" she gasped.

"I see our male Torn is greeting you." Hammond laughed "Here we have our resident Woolly Mammoth herd and if you look you can see some smaller woolly elephants. They are American Mastodon. Ooh I'm glad he's here he normally stays at the opposite end of this exhibit. The deer with the giant antlers is one of our male Megaloceros called Prancer."

The reporters all around her started to stand up clamouring for Hammond to answer their questions. Somebody asked about dinosaurs. Of course. These islands were the perfect place to raise dinosaurs in secret. She swore again when Hammond said the immortal words: 'We have a T Rex.' Nigel Marven then started talking about a rewilding program involving dodos, passenger pigeons and some extinct species of cougar. A screen then came down from the rigging behind the curtains. It was a trailer for 'Prehistoric Park' which ended with one scaly three toed foot and a roar of the King of the Dinosaurs. She doubted that the words **Prehistoric Park, Extinction doesn't have to be forever **would ever leave her mind. It was amazing and Chiyo had helped create it. The course that she was doing at university was coming to life before her eyes.

"Hey," a voice softly spoke in her ear. She hadn't realised that the gaggle of reporters had started to dissipate. Chiyo was standing there with her hands placed awkwardly in her pockets. "What did you think?"

"It's bloody amazing! Did you catch a T Rex?" She was amazed by the answer, Chiyo had helped catch five. "I'm assuming your lip scar has something to do with a dinosaur?"

"Yeah." Chiyo grinned showing her perfect teeth and highlighting the thin white line on her bottom lip. "A type of raptor called Dromaeosaurus. My mum was ready to castrate Nigel when I told her originally that a vulture did it. I think she'll definitely kill Nigel tomorrow when she arrives and sees the real culprit."

By then the reporters had left the area. They were all alone with the huge Ice Age animals. Clutching the metal bar overlooking the exhibit she couldn't have felt happier. She was with the person who she loved more than life itself looking at a sight straight from fantasy. The mammoths were amazing. The matriarch was nuzzling her head against the furry mane of a younger female. Each gave blissful little toots from their trunks. One of the giant antlered deer was rubbing one of his humongous antlers against the grass sending chunks flying as he did. If she was this awestruck by recently extinct animals how would she react to a dinosaur?

"I would pay an arm and a leg to come here," she said in amazement.

"Unless is you change your name to Edward Elric you don't have to," Chiyo laughed. "As long as we're together you get free entry."

She kissed Chiyo on the cheek. Chiyo suddenly took her by the hand and led her to a monorail station. She was going to get a personal tour of Prehistoric Park! Her heart was beating ten to the dozen. All the names of different types of dinosaurs from her childhood swarmed into her head: T Rex, Velociraptor, Triceratops, Stegosaurus, Brachiosaurus, Apatosaurus. The names of others learnt through her university course came in as well: Utahraptor, Guanlong, Allosaurus. Soon a pure white monorail arrived whose doors slid open with a slight hiss. They sat down and the doors slid shut behind them. The land started to slide effortlessly by. Half the time she was preoccupied with quizzing Chiyo the other half she was preoccupied in staring out of the window. They passed a savannah that had orange llama things running away underneath them, a large biodome looking like a giant sized golf ball and even a riverside with a giant crocodile in it!

"Do you have pterosaurs?" she asked.

"Yeah our first was Pteranodon." Chiyo laughed happily. It was a wonderful sight to see, as good as seeing the mammoths. "We have an aviary full of them. About nine different species."

"And sauropods?"

"Loads. Our largest, the Argentinosaurus, was the largest thing in regards to weight which ever walked on the land. We have Brachiosaurus, Apatosaurus and Diplodocus as well."

This was amazing! The monorail then darted over the sea. A tail fluke smashed out of the water and smashed back in again. That apparently was an extinct species of whale from Egypt. It was like living in a dream. Somewhere she had read that 99.9% of all life that has ever lived had gone extinct. Quite possibly this place could bring back 99.9% of all life from extinction. In the war against extinction this place was actually winning. After a few minutes the monorail stopped at a place called _Solnhofen Forest_. Apparently John Hammond had put something up for his favourite dinosaur. A large black banner with the logo of a skeletal dinosaur with the words **Welcome to Prehistoric Park **was strewn across some glass panels overlooking a small forest. Several chicken sized bipedal dinosaurs with thin wiry necks and were covered in blue-green feathers. Their large black eyes stared avidly at them.

"We're lucky they aren't normally awake at this time of day." Chiyo said. "Compsognathus."

"They were right. Theropods were feathered… Actually these guys are pretty cute." With their massive black eyes and little hops on their tiny feet they looked like something straight out of a cartoon. Even the bird like chirrups that they made added to this effect. "Come on Chiyo we're going to have a photo. No buts."

Despite Chiyo's struggles she managed to get her into a hug and with the other hand take a photo. For all the effort it turned out to be a good one. She had managed to get the banner and a few Compsognathus in the photo. Chiyo even smiled on it.

"Do you want me to show you our Phase II animals?" Chiyo asked excitedly. "We rescued them last but we're keeping them off public viewing for now. In a few months the public will get to look at them."

How could she refuse? The long monorail trip was worth it. To be honest she would have gladly stayed on the monorail. Down below the entirety of prehistory was up for display. Colossus monitor lizards from Australia, longer than a human is tall, crocodile like nothosaurs, a herd of the thunderous Argentinosaurus and even the bizarre Tanystropheus. The Phase II animals were amazing as well. Dilophosaurus was her favourite dinosaur and they were there sweeping their claws through the river for fish. As the sun started to set Chiyo dragged her back onto the monorail.

"There's one last thing that I want to show you today."

The last stop was on Isla Nublar (according to Chiyo the conquistador who named the islands had slurred his words drinking the rich wine of the local people. Instead of saying Isla Nublada he said Nublar). They had passed through an archway with _Hell's Creek _written above it in large letters.

"Do you want to have a guess about what we have in here?"

Animals that were found in Hell's Creek. Her professor probably could have reeled off the entire population by now. "Erm. Triceratops, that oviraptor, Anzu that's it, Pachycephalosaurus, Tyr…"

They had just stopped under another arch. It said _Tyrannosaurus Territory_.

_Jordan_

"Jordan when can we get tickets?" Shaun asked him in a state of shock. Shaun must have realised the magnitude of what he had just saw by the fact that he had referred to him as 'Jordan' and not 'tosser'. Anyone would have to have lived under a rock for their entire life in order for them not to understand the magnitude of the situation. Extinction itself had gone extinct.

"Mummy is Uncle Jordan going to work with dinosaurs?" Dani asked eagerly.

"He is sweetie. And dodos and woolly mammoths and sabre toothed tigers." Amy's eyes were full of tears of excitement. He remembered years ago what his dad had told him: _Dinosaurs are extinct_. Well they definitely aren't anymore. In another hour Dani had finally calmed down and he went to his own bed. Sleep came surprisingly easily that night. Just as he was about to drift off he started wondering how long the news would spread. Some people may have watched it in Costa Rica and other countries nearby because it was the middle of the day, others in different continents may have done so because of how many news agencies had been there. He doubted that many in Britain would have seen it. Both the BBC and ITV had not given Hammond's announcement full news attention so anyone watching the news late at night probably would not have seen it. Maybe a few people stumbling in from a night of drinking may have saw it and put it down to the booze. How else could they explain a wildlife sanctuary full of extinct animals?

He woke up early the next morning. A false of habit since his few years of working at London Zoo. Animals had no concept of sleeping in until ten in the morning so you had to get up with the sun. His mobile read 06:54. Sometime in the night the notification from BBC News had sprang up. Next to the news broadcaster's logo were the words: _CEO of InGen John Hammond at 23:00 announced the existence of a wildlife sanctuary named Prehistoric Park which exhibits extinct animals. _He would like to see the wave of shocked faces as the world woke up to realise that dinosaurs stalked the earth once more. Outside he could hear Amy preparing Dani's lunch for school. With a surprising lack of tiredness he got up and headed towards the kitchen. In his sister's apartment his bedroom had the luxury of being right next door to the kitchen if you wanted a late night snack.

"Morning dino ranger!" she said happily while applying copious amounts of jam to some bread. He guessed that Shaun must have left for work a short while ago judging by the buttered knife sticking out of the sink. While Amy was making Dani's lunch she always had the news on. Today it was the BBC.

"_The time is seven o'clock and here are today's headlines_," Naga Munchetty said from the television. "_The Queen is continuing her visit to Runnymede to celebrate the signing of the Magna Carta 800 years ago. A copy of the document has been moved to a pavilion for Her Majesty's viewing. David Cameron will meet with German Chancellor Angela Merkel in Berlin to discuss reform of the European Union. It is expected that aid to Syria and talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin will also take place. Finally dinosaurs and mammoths walk the earth again. CEO of the genetics company InGen John Hammond announced the existence of Prehistoric Park on an island chain off the coast of Costa Rica._"

At each announcement there was an accompanying clip. The Queen was first seen looking at an old document which he assumed to be the Magna Carta. The second showed the pudgy red face of the Prime Minister talking to his stern looking German counterpart. The final one needed no introduction. It showed the heavily bearded John Hammond beaming in front of a herd of woolly mammoths.

"_Today we are joined by one of the lead palaeontologists who work at Prehistoric Park, Dr Alan Grant_," the other presented, Charlie Stayt said. "_Dr Grant so dinosaurs are back!_"

Alan Grant looked more like an adventurer than a scientist in his dirt swept checked shirt, a brown fedora and dirty loafers. More like Indiana Jones than Q. "_Yes Prehistoric Park exhibits many different species of dinosaurs as well as many other animals that lived alongside, after and before the dinosaurs evolved._"

The rest of the interview seemed to be a blur. He was soon going to be looking after extinct animals. No matter how much he said or thought it he could not get his head around it. Maybe they had Dimetrodon? The pièce de résistance of his fossil collection. It would be amazing to see a live one. On the TV Dr Grant mentioned something about Archaeopteryx. Christ they had what was thought to be the first bird! The phone rang for a few beeps until Amy picked it up.

"It's mum and dad," she said laughing. "Dad thinks he's put something in his tea and mum's scared to death that you'll be eaten by a T Rex."

John Hammond's words echoed in his head: _We have a T Rex_. He took the phone from Amy. He was going to work at the ultimate wildlife sanctuary. He was going to work at Prehistoric Park.

_You_

You step off the yacht and onto a lavish dock. It occurs to you that John Hammond really did spare no expense. Flag poles had fluttering flags on the end with the now famous Prehistoric Park logo printed on it. A set of escalators in front of you lead up to a gleaming white monorail. You can hear many exciting sounds: the call of seabirds, ecstatic chattering of people in a multitude of languages all around you, a voice speaking in different languages over a speaker system and a faint sound of trumpets. You recognise the tune from the trailer when Prehistoric Park was announced. Finally the speaker system speaks in a language that you recognise.

"_Welcome to Isla Nublar, home to Prehistoric Park. Please go to the monorail carriage on your ticket and begin your ride through prehistory."_

You look at your ticket. Next to the formidable skull of a T Rex there are the letters 06 printed in red ink. Looking the carriage six you go up the escalator. A courteous staff member takes your luggage as you go to take a seat on one of the chairs in the carriage. The trumpets continue over a speaker system inside the monorail. The doors slide closed and the monorail sets off silently. Around you the cliff face and sea are devoured by tropical trees and thick fog. It looks like you have entered prehistory. A voice comes over the speaker system as the trumpets become louder and more triumphant.

"_There is something missing from our world. The amazing animals that time has left behind. But what if extinction didn't have to be forever?_" The tropical trees become replaced by monkey puzzles and conifers. You can feel the monorail going up higher. "_You will now set off on a safari with a difference which will take you from the dawn of animal life to the Ice Age. Your first stop will be Wyoming 155 million years ago in the Late Jurassic."_

The monorail stops. Your heart skips a beat. Below you is a plain full of ferns and horsetails. However they are not the thing that you notice. Rather the long necked behemoths making low grumbling noises catch your attention. They are easily the tallest thing that you have ever seen. On the windows of the monorail light blue fact sheets suddenly appear. You just notice where the projector is coming from. Using the fact sheet you find out that the behemoths are Brachiosaurus. Apatosaurus, Diplodocus, Stegosaurus and Dryosaurus also live in this plain but you cannot see them. You are speechless. After a few minutes the monorail starts again. Eventually the sides of the monorail become swallowed by tropical trees again. The monorail stops in front of a building with what seems to be a straw roof and grey walls. The walls have imprints of different fossil animals ranging from pterosaurs to ammonites for decoration. The doors to the monorail slide open and heat from outside greedily takes over the atmosphere inside. A voice instructs you to head to the building where you will watch an introductory video. As you take your seat the lights dim and on a screen billionaire John Hammond starts talking.

"_Welcome to Prehistoric Park where extinction doesn't have to be forever! Before we start you might be wondering how Prehistoric Park came to life. It started when I had an idea for a preserve called Jurassic Park but I'll need my friend to help explain."_ Hammond pricks his finger with a comical ouch which causes some children to laugh. From his finger a DNA strand with a Texas drawl and googly eyes flies from Hammond's finger and starts to fly around Hammond. _"Mister DNA! Where did you come from?"_

"_In your blood silly! DNA strands like me make up all forms of life…"_ What follows is a video of Mr DNA explaining cloning and genetics. After explaining why Jurassic Park failed he starts to talk about how Prehistoric Park acquired its animals and how it avoids changing time. Finally it ends with Hammond and Mr DNA explaining park safety with Mr DNA running away from raptors in a comical fashion, all the time earning laughs from kids.

You are soon handed a bracelet described in the video. You are escorted to your hotel and soon you are outside standing in the Costa Rican sunlight. Your ultimate wildlife sanctuary begins now.

**Thanks for reading and for being such a good audience. On Friday I will release some trivia on Extinction World and A Keeper's Story in the reviews which I hope you'll enjoy. This is also my goodbye from fanfiction. When Prehistoric Kingdom and Mesozoica are released I might do a crossover between the two of them but I'm still undecided. Well thank you for sticking with me for so long and I hope to see you for the trivia on Friday!**


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